The Talk
by TheSunglassesGamer
Summary: Post Bon-Bon episode, two weeks later. Jackie confronts Star about her feelings for Marco.
1. Chapter 1

Knock, Knock. The door. Star went to open it up and was greeted by what she had been quietly dreading. Despite that, she put on a cheery grin.

"Hi Jackie, how are you?" Star kept her voice masterfully calm and friendly. The bitter resentment that had built up over the past two weeks had been successfully concealed once again. 'Go me,' she thought disparagingly.

Jackie returned the smile, although Star's guts told her that Jackie wasn't faking it. "Hey Star, I'm fine," she responded. "Had a bit of trouble getting here, but nothing else. You?" She sounded like she almost always did: relaxed, content, and cool. Jackie was, after all, a relaxed, content (if not already happy), and cool person. Star had known her long enough to also know that Jackie was also very nice and had a very open mind, both to people and to the world around her. It was part of the reason Marco had kept going out with her after their first date. Jackie was wonderful, and that was the reason Marco had been hanging around with her more often, spending more time with her, talking about her all the time, and-

"Star?" Jackie asked, waving her hands in front of Star. Star's eyes snapped open. She giggled a bit, trying to go for kooky and carefree. She did so. Mostly.

"Sorry Jackie, just remembered a joke from earlier." Star's grin was back on her face. It didn't feel right to her, so she made it bigger. "Come on in."

After briefly giving Star an odd look, Jackie entered the Diaz household and looked around. "Hey, where's Marco?"

"Getting ready, I suppose." Star walked towards the stairway that led to the upstairs and yelled, "HEY MARCO! YOUR GIRLFRIEND IS HERE!"

After a moment, a voice of a young, awkward teenager replied, "GIVE ME A MOMENT, I'M HAVING PROBLEMS WITH MY OUTFIT!"

Star sighed, knowing full well that it could take her best friend nearly a half hour to get himself ready. If any problems arose, it could take significantly longer. A small hope arose within the young girl. If Marco didn't get ready soon, Jackie might get upset. She would complain to Marco that he'd been late and hadn't taken the date seriously enough. She might even leave, or better yet, break up with Marco.

"Sorry, Jackie, Marco might be a while." Star's voice gave no indication of how pleased she was. "Quite a while, depending on whatever's the problem."

Jackie smiled. She had a great smile, full of warmth and reassurance. A smile that Star hated. "It's fine, Star, I can wait. We don't have any reservations tonight."

Star's small, irrational hope died away quickly. She knew in her head that Jackie wasn't as shallow as she had hoped for, but her heart had different opinions on the matter. She gestured towards the couch. Jackie nodded and sat down. Star took the seat next to her, tense. She shouldn't be tense, she realized. Jackie was her friend, and a good one at that. It wasn't fair for her to have so much animosity towards such a nice person, and yet…

"Uh, Star?"

"Hmmm?" Star replied, distracted again.

"Do you- I- "Jackie bit her lip, hesitating. That made Star notice. Jackie was normally more mellow and ready to talk about anything. She might get weirded out by a three-headed demon snake or magical spell of magnificent power, but conversations were nothing to her. Yet now she seemed… anxious, almost dreadful.

"What's up, Jackie?" Star said, genuinely curious and more herself. Jackie took in a deep breath and composed herself. Star's curiosity rose.

"I'd like to talk to you about Marco," Jackie answered. She kept a straight face, refusing to show any emotions. Star's curiosity turned into annoyance. Of course Jackie wanted to know more about Marco. She was probably trying to find out what his ring finger size was.

Star shook her head. Jackie wasn't like that, she reminded herself. And besides, she was acting so oddly that there was no way of telling what she was thinking. "Of course, Jackie. Ask away."

Jackie bit her lip again. She took a moment to think before she stated, "I know how you feel about him."

Star blinked her eyes at Jackie. What the hell could she mean? Everyone already knew that Star and Marco were the best of friends. There wasn't any point in Jackie telling Star the obvious. "What do you mean?" Star asked, confusion clear on her face.

Jackie's eyebrows fell slightly. "Janna told me about what happened the night Marco and I went to the dance."

Jackie's response irritated Star. For one, Janna had told Jackie what had happened during their séance outing. It wasn't as though the event was secret or anything, but Star still felt betrayed somehow. Secondly, Jackie's tone made it sound as if she was accusing Star of something. "So?" Star responded, letting some of her mood slip into her words.

Jackie let out a huff of exasperation. "Star, if what Janna has told me is true, and she never lies to me, then I'm pretty damn sure that you've got a crush on Marco and haven't told him."

Star's irritation grew. "What?" Her voice was a mix of surprise and anger.

Jackie saw the change in Star's behavior and immediately switched gears. "Star, I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm not trying to imply that you're trying to take him from me or-"

"From YOU?" Star nearly yelled. Her irritation had quickly grown into outright anger. "You took him from ME! I was the one who spent the last year with him, not you! I'm the one who saved him from Ludo's castle, who's hung out with him every Friendship Thursday, who's been there by his side helping him get the courage to ask you out, you, you-"

Jackie's eyes were terrified. Her whole body was tense and ready to run. She was holding onto the couch with a death grip. Star realized, then, that the hearts on her cheeks had started to glow green with evil energy. Her anger vanished as quickly as it had come. She fell onto the couch (she had stood up at some point that she couldn't remember). She felt exhausted and, more importantly, depressed. The truth, a truth she had been running away from for months now, had finally gotten to her.

"I didn't mean to pry, Star," Jackie started, still cautious of her friend. "But… after your battle with Ludo, I asked Janna if anything weird had happened before the fight. She said that you'd been acting weird, asking about Marco a lot, trying to call him, etc. It wasn't hard to put two and two together. I didn't bring it up earlier because I was waiting for you to tell him, but…"

Star sighed, defeated. "Yeah," she replied. Her voice was a bit hoarse. "I couldn't tell him the truth until I told myself the truth. And if I did that…"

"Everything would change."

"Yeah."

Silence reigned over the household. Jackie was the first to break it.

"Do you hate me? I mean, it's cool if you do, I understand, but-"

"No, Jackie, I don't hate you," Star responded, mildly irritated again. "Although I hated the fact that I couldn't hate you."

"Why not?"

Star sighed, annoyed. If Jackie could figure out Star's feelings better than herself, then she shouldn't be asking such a stupid question. But Star decided to amuse her. "You're too- ugh, what's the word? Awesome, right. Or wonderful. Or nice. All of them apply." She looked at Jackie with a bittersweet expression. "You aren't a bitch, Jackie. I could only hate you if you were a bitch." Jackie looked like she was about to say something, but Star interrupted her. "And no, acting like a bitch now won't help. Marco deserves better."

"Oh, uh, no, that wasn't what I was going to say." Jackie said awkwardly. Star looked at her with her eyebrows furrowed. "I was going to tell you that you need to tell Marco."

Star looked away, apathy entering her gaze. "No, that will just make things more complicated. He's already having enough trouble trying to figure out how to date. If I drop this on him now, it'll just mess everything up. It might ruin our friendship."

"Star," Jackie replied very seriously, "Your relationship with Marco is based all around trust and honesty. I've only been with him for two weeks and I can already tell that he's worried for you. He doesn't show it much, but I know he's smart enough to know that you're upset. If you don't tell him soon, he'll either feel as if you don't trust him anymore or try to confront you about it. Or both."

Star shook her head. "Those are my options? Talk to him about it and ruin my friendship, or don't talk to him about it and ruin my friendship? Fucking wonderful."

"Those were your options," A voice from the top of the stairs said, loud and clear. Fear shocked Star out of her mood. She twisted around to find something awful. Marco was standing at the top of the stairs, looking somber in his nice clothes. Star gaped in horror. Marco winced, replying, "I heard everything."


	2. Chapter 2

No one spoke. Marco, after staring awkwardly at the two girls for a short time, realized that it would have to be up to him to do something. He looked down at his feet, tried to think of something to say, and eventually just let out a small sigh.

"One second," he muttered. He took his first step down the stairs and tripped. Go figure. He fell, hitting every other stair on his way down and letting out little sounds of discomfort with each hit. By the bottom of the stairway he had taken some nasty bruises, but nothing that wouldn't be gone within a week. They still hurt, though. Quite a lot, in fact.

On the upside, his accelerated journey down the stairs had broken the awkward tension by scaring the heck out of his two friends. "Marco, are you O.K.?" They both exclaimed in very different tones. Star was used to seeing Marco get tossed around and hurt, and thus wasn't as worried as Jackie about the fall.

Marco coughed a bit while standing up. "I'm fine," he wheezed pathetically. Jackie went over to help him but he shook his head. "Really, I'm okay," he responded again, this time with some dignity. They both went over to the couch and sat down, Marco in betwixt the two girls. As he sat down, Marco could start to feel the awkward feelings from before come back. He quickly attempted to keep it away by asking, "So, you uh, um…" _Well, fuck,_ he thought to himself. _Attempt failed._

"Uh, yeah," Star replied in a small voice. Marco relaxed to her voice. It had told him two things, that A), he wasn't the only awkward one in the room, and B), Star wasn't as emotionally battered as she had been earlier. Or at least he hoped she wasn't.

Jackie breathed out a short huff of air. "Maybe I should go, let you two-"

"No." Marco's voice had rung out, soft but confident. It surprised everyone in the room including himself. "This affects you as much as it affects me and Star. Besides, you're the one who brought it up."

Jackie stared at Marco, taken aback. Her face changed to shock, then thoughtfulness, and finally to sober agreement. "You're right, I guess."

Marco nodded, saying "Right," as he did. He was about to say something else, but he caught himself. The young, dorky teen was stuck in the middle of a very large social problem. If he didn't think out his next words very carefully, he could hurt the feelings of his friends horribly.

Yet the more he thought about it, the more certain he was that everyone was going to leave that couch upset. Jackie was his girlfriend, and more importantly, a wonderful person. When Marco had first started dating his lifelong crush, he had prepared himself for two terrifying possibilities: One, that Jackie would turn out to be a total bitch and break his heart, or that two, Jackie would turn out to be sweet but not into him, and consequentially break his heart. Neither of those scenarios came true. Jackie turned out to be even better than he had imagined, and surprisingly into him. He couldn't just leave her because Star admitted her feelings to him; Jackie deserved better than that.

But Marco also couldn't tell Star that he wasn't into her. If she really did have a crush on him, then she'd be heartbroken upon hearing that he didn't reciprocate. There was the very likely possibility that it would hurt or even tear their friendship apart. Eight months of wonderful adventures, emotional struggle, and complete respect and honesty would be thrown away in a single evening. The last thing Marco wanted to do was to hurt his friend, especially after she had lost Glossaryck and her book. Marco loved both girls sitting next to him. But at that moment on the couch, he understood how different his love for both of them was. And it would've been a dishonor to their relationships if he didn't tell them the truth.

It was also at this moment that Marco realized that he had been stuck in contemplation for over two whole minutes. Both Star and Jackie were looking at each other's eyes, trying to see if the other had any idea what Marco was doing. "Uh, Marco?" Jackie asked, nervous about his behavior.

"Oh, uh, right, sorry," Marco muttered, his face flushing red. He took some deep breaths to prepare himself for his speech.

"Right then," He said, his dread seeping back in. He looked Star in the eyes before saying, "I love you, Star." Both girls' eyes opened wide, but before they could respond further, Marco put up his hand. Grudgingly, he finished, "But not in the same way that you love me."

Star's heart fell into her stomach. She'd waited patiently, more patiently than ever before in her life, for his answer. She had hoped, in some wild, fantastical place in her mind, that Marco would laugh heartily, kiss her on the lips, and proclaim that he'd been in love with her from the start. And yes, he'd admitted that he loved her, but she knew it wasn't romantic love. Real love.

Marco saw the look on her face and quickly tried to explain himself. "I would call you my best friend, Star, but you aren't. You're something more. I've never met anyone like you, and if for a second I thought I would lose you or if you got hurt, I'd be a total wreck. You're like a sister to me, except that I trust you more than any one in my family with my life. Please, I don't want everything we've done for the past eight months to fall apart because of this."

Star's face looked like she was about to cry. And then it went blank of emotion. "It's alright, Marco," she replied dully.

Marco's heart fell. "Star-"

"No," she said calmly. She spoke with ice in her tone. She was clearly trying to keep her emotions down, but one of them was escaping: anger. Sparks of green electricity sizzled around her. Marco backed off unconsciously. He wished he hadn't. Star's mood only grew worse.

"I'll be upstairs. If you really love me, you won't follow," Her voice sounded heavy, ready to break into anger or tears at any moment. Marco was about to argue, but a familiar hand rested itself upon his shoulder. Jackie didn't say anything but the message was clear: let her go.

And so Marco, against his better judgement, watched Star pout up to her room. The slam of the door was very loud and echoed throughout the house. Marco felt exhausted and depressed. He'd hoped to be able to explain his feelings properly, but now he wished that he hadn't talked at all.

"She needs time to cool off," Jackie reassured him. "And honestly, it'll probably work out better next time if I'm not here."

Marco sighed. "I don't know. She's never been this mad before. And she's done rash things before… Gah, I don't know what I should've done."

Jackie suggested, with a bit of wry in her tone, "Maybe you should've left out the sister line."

Marco gave her a miffed look before responding, "I didn't see you giving any suggestions."

Jackie rolled her eyes. "You know why she's really upset? Because it isn't just that you don't romantically love her."

Marco frowned. "No, I don't."

"It's because she thinks she's been replaced. That you don't care for her at all. That she isn't the most important person in your life anymore. Hell, Marco, you might as well have told her that now that I'm here, she's irrelevant and can leave now."

Marco looked skeptical. "Really?

Jackie shrugged. "At the very least, no matter how much you say that you love her, she's not going to feel that love while you're with me." Jackie looked away from him, tensing up. "Sorry."

Marco shook his head. "No, no, we can't blame you. It's not your fault. I should've picked up on her feelings earlier."

"Marco, you can't-"

"Watch me."

Jackie's' eyebrows raised. "Oh, so you have to take all of the blame?"

Marco shrugged. "Might as well. I'm the one who's going to fix the problem."

Jackie's eyebrows raised again, though this time more seriously. "Wait, what? How?"

Marco nodded confidently. "I need to show that I still care for Star while keeping my relationship with you. The answer's simple." He nodded towards the dimensional scissors Star had left on the coffee table three days ago. "Glossaryck and the book."

Jackie's jaw dropped. "Marco, you can't be serious! Didn't that little green bird try to kill you two?"

"He almost succeeded, too." Marco agreed. "But another talk with Star is, at best, going to make the next few months really awkward. You said it yourself. I need to show that I care."

Jackie was about to argue, but stopped herself. "I'll go with you. Let me use the restroom and we'll go." She left before Marco could argue. By the time she returned, Marco and the scissors were gone. All that was left was a note. It read:

"Sorry Jackie, this mission is too dangerous for you. Both Star and I have had a lot of practice battling Ludo, and you're only got one night under your belt. Don't worry, I'm getting help from Buff Frog (hopefully). I'll be back before you know it. -Marco"


	3. Chapter 3

"That dumbass…" Jackie muttered to herself, now alone in the Diaz household's living room. She stood looking at the tiny note Marco had scrawled out for her in his hurry to leave. He'd left to go fight Ludo and try to get the book and the little glossary guy back. Alone. Despite the fact that Jackie had said that she'd go with him. And he'd taken the only working pair of Dimensional Scissors on Earth, so there was no way to go after him. Fucking wonderful.

Jackie sighed. She knew exactly why he'd gone alone. For months, Marco and Star had been tighter friends than anyone else. They walked together, talked together, ate together, fought monsters together, everything. There were several people who thought they were dating, and, at first, Jackie had been one of them. It was an incredibly personal "friendship" that the two kept. If Marco had felt that he'd hurt Star in any way, he'd hate himself until he, and only he, had fixed it. Jackie had almost straight out told him that Star didn't feel loved. She was kicking herself in the ass for not realizing what she'd done until too late.

It also didn't help that Marco's self-esteem was almost non-existent. The majority of their first date had been him freaking out and worrying that he'd somehow not be worthy of her. He'd outright said that he'd expected her to dump him. It had taken almost an hour for him to stop freaking out and just enjoy the moment. He'd gotten better since then, but not by much. He wasn't tense when they went out, and he smiled more. But after two weeks, it had become clear to Jackie that it was going to take a long time to help Marco overcome his self-loathing. He'd probably ran off to help himself feel worthy of Star's love as he'd done it to show her his own. Dumbass.

Jackie shook herself out of her examination of Marco's mental and emotional problems. She wasn't Doctor Jackie, PhD. She was Jackie Lynn Thomas, the girl who was going to save her boyfriend from what amounted to heroic suicide. Spending three whole paragraphs of standing around wasn't going to save him.

So, how was she going to get to another dimension without any special scissors, track down Marco, and help him defeat a magical evil bird? Simple. Ask Star.

A few seconds and three knocks later, Jackie was staring at Star's door. She hadn't gotten any response. She knocked again. The muffled voice of the (usually) lively princess said, "Go away." She sounded like a mess.

"It's me, Star!" Jackie yelled, banging on the door again. "I need to talk to you!"

Star didn't respond. Jackie let out a huff and opened the door, saying, "Come on, Star, it isn't that ba-" The sight before her made her speechless.

It was hard to take in the entire spectacle due to how low the lighting was. Only a few candles lit the room, but they allowed Jackie to see the atrocity of room design Star had committed. The entire room was painted with only two colors: Red and Black. Small poems with names like "Pain", "Desire", and "Bitter Love" lay around the bedroom floor. Posters with teenagers posed with enough angst to start crappy bands in their basements littered the walls. The phrase "Love is Pain" was painted across the wall, overlapping some posters. Star herself was buried beneath a pile of pillows, apparently lying limp on the bed. The drama of it all almost made Jackie hurl.

"Uh, Star?" Jackie asked, awestruck. "What the hell?"

Star didn't look up. She simply deadpanned, "I am become death."

"Wrong phrase, but close enough," Jackie replied, still confused. "But that's not what I meant. I mean you usually don't act this… emo. Even when you're normally upset."

Star shrugged. "I'm a magical princess alien from another dimension who's been spending almost every waking second with Marco. And I STILL got fucking beat out by the popular girl." She glared up at Jackie. "I think I've got a pretty good reason to mope."

"Star, I haven't replaced you, Marco himself sa-"

"Jackie, stop," Star interrupted. She looked venomously at Jackie. "I can live with you being his girlfriend, I really can. But I can't stand being treated like a five-year-old. People have done that to me for years, and I'm sick of it. You won, don't try to pity me."

Jackie let out a huff of irritation. "Who are you right now? Marco is about to get himself killed just to prove that he wasn't full of shit when he told you that he loved you. And here you are, wallowing with enough self-pity to make a whole new Twilight series."

Star's emotional rollercoaster hit the decline into anger and she pushed herself up to look Jackie right in the eyes. "You don't know the-" Then her face went blank. "Wait, what did you say about Marco?"

Jackie's anger, born from irritation, came out in her voice as she scolded, "He ran off to try and get your stupid book and glossa-whatever. He's probably going to die unless you get up off your sorry ass and HELP ME SAVE HIM!"

Star looked at Jackie with big eyes. "You're really mad right now. Like, really weirdly mad."

Jackie wanted to scream at Star. She covered her face with her hands and muffled a scream instead. It was just so frustrating to deal with Star that she, she… realized that Star was right. Jackie never got angry. Never. Upset, sometimes, but not screaming in outrage. She took a few seconds to stare at her hands before looking up with almost the same expression that Star had: dumbfounded revelation.

"Uh, I, um, yes, you are correct. I, um, yes." Jackie coughed awkwardly. "Sorry. Just…"

"Yeah, no, I, uh, get it." Star looked around the room, taking it all in as though it was the first time she'd seen it. "I really, really get it."

"Well, it looks like Marco brings out the best in all of us," a smooth, sarcastic voice echoed from the doorway. Both girls jumped up, yelling profane language. They turned around to see the demon-prince Tom, dressed in clothes that looked like they came straight out of Hot Topic. He grinned mischievously at both of them. "Hi, Starship," he said gallantly, "and Hi, J… ackie? Is that it?"

Both girls stared at the demon for a full five seconds. Then Star's face went flat. "Tom, what the hell are you doing here?"

Tom's smile turned coy, but then relaxed casually. "Well, originally, I was going to ask Marco if I could borrow his computer for a few days. Mine broke during a game of Karate Kickers 5 after I lost 12 matches in a row." Tom clenched his hand and closed his eyes. "Patience is a virtue when it comes to owning expensive material goods, apparently." Then he clapped his hands, opened his eyes, and continued, announcing, "But then I come here, overhear that my best enemy has gone MIA, and that you two have no way of getting him back. Correct?"

Jackie blinked at the thing in front of her. With nothing else to say, she nodded and said, "Uh, yeah, sure."

Star was much more conservative than her human counterpart. Experience with Tom had made her wary. "Maybe. Why do you care?"

Tom blinked. "He's the closest thing to a friend I have. I need that asshole back to hang out and fight with."

Jackie looked at Tom. He seemed genuine, despite him being a demon. And after all, she didn't want to judge some being just on its species. That'd be racist. Or something similar. Probably. She nudged Star and gave her a reaffirming nod.

Star was still hesitant. "You aren't going to ask for anything else?"

Tom looked hurt. "Ouch. I've gotten over you, Starship. I've got someone else in mind now. Don't worry, I just want Marco back."

Star wasn't sure, but Jackie was. With everything that'd happened over the past two weeks, Star had come to realize that her opinion was probably better than her own. "Alright, let's go."


	4. Chapter 4

Marco stood, alone, in the forest of certain doom. He had been attempting to find Buff Frog to persuade him to help raid Ludo's hideout. At the very least, he was expecting Buff frog to give him some info on the where the hideout was. So far, however, Marco had yet to find Buff Frog. He'd met several different plants and animals that had tried to make him their supper, but no Buff Frog. Frustrated, he sat down on a rock and moped.

"How can I find Ludo's place without Buff Frog's help?" He muttered bitterly. "I've got no leads or anything. I can't go back and ask Star, obviously, but I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to do." He silently cursed himself for running off so abruptly. The smart and rational plan of action would have been to contact Buff Frog ahead of time and set up a plan with him. But Marco hadn't been thinking, and had just wanted to fix the problem as soon as possible. He usually wasn't one to run off without a plan, but it seemed like everyone was acting oddly that day. That didn't excuse him for being an idiot, though. It just explained why.

Marco sat on the rock, mulling over ways to find Ludo, when a large explosion of light and sound erupted fifteen feet behind him. He scrambled around, shocked. He ended up falling on his butt with his body facing the source of the din. A girl, riding a massive cog led by goat-sheep had come through a massive portal. She sat up straight, headstrong, and willful, ready to take on the world. When she saw Marco laying on the ground in front of her, she winced. Teenage awkwardness and guilt were added to her features. She quickly got off her giant cog and offered Marco a hand.

"Sorry, my bad," the girl said. Marco didn't take her hand. He just stared up at her. She was wearing a dark green dress that ended at her knees, pink stockings that went up through the dress, and boots that covered most of her legs. Her eyes were blue, her long hair brown, and her skin a fair tone of white. Overall, she looked like a nice fourteen-year-old. But there was something that caught Marco's eyes. On both of the girls cheeks were two, little, pink fleur-di-lis's. They looked remarkably like the signs of a Mewman Royal family member. She, in turn, looked a lot like his friend Star, except for the hair. And he hadn't seen the girl at the Royal Family get-together the month before.

"Uh, hello?" The girl asked, clearly weirded out by Marco's behavior.

Marco blinked rapidly, then shook his head. Distracted, he responded, "Sorry, I just- Your cheeks."

The girl inhaled deeply and blushed. "Oh shit! I mean, crap! Fsdfsdsdf…" She put her mouth over her hands and looked like she had done something horrible.

Marco's eyebrows rose. He'd met several strange creatures on his outings with Star. No matter how many trips he went on, however, no weird event ever prepared him for the next. "Who are you?" He interrogated, growing more suspicious then confused.

The girl closed her eyes. When she opened them, she looked composed and orderly. Almost queen-like. "Forgive me, d- sir. My name is Elizabeth Diaz Butterfly. I'm your daughter from the future, and I have terrible news."

Marco looked at the girl blankly, then amusedly. "Sounds like a ploy to get me killed," Marco said frankly.

The girls eyes opened wide, insulted. "Wha- What the hell? I'm not-"

Another large light show with spectacular sounds came out of the forest. Both Marco and Elizabeth looked up to see another teenager approaching them. He was dressed in cast-off clothes that looked mostly like a collection of old rags. His hair was brown, his cheeks covered in freckles and scars, his skin the same color as Elizabeth's, and his eyes- His eyes reminded Marco of Jackie.

"Oh, great," Marco muttered to himself. "Another one."

The boy nodded. "Sorry that I'm late, father. Time travel can be difficult to master."

Marco rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Of course you are," he replied dryly.

"Who the hell are you?" Elizabeth demanded, clear disgust on her face.

The boy looked equally as disgusted with her. "I'm Jam, the son of-" He was rudely interrupted by Marco, who'd given up on trying to take the world around him seriously.

"Wait, let me guess, you're the son of Jackie and myself, is that it?"

Jam blinked. "I, uh, yeah. Yes I am."

The girl narrowed her eyes at Jam while Marco simply nodded as though everything made perfect sense. "So you're the error in the timeline that Glossaryck was talking about," she stated, venom in her tone.

"Quite the contrary, Elizabeth," Jam replied, cool hatred on the tip of his tongue. " _You_ are the mistake that needs to be fixed."

Elizabeth's eyes flared in outrage and she took out her wand. It was very similar to Star's wand, but Elizabeth's wand was complete and at full power. She aimed it at her counterpart, who'd already taken out his own weapon: a plasma rifle with the words "no magic" plastered on the side. Before any mayhem could happen, however, Marco put himself between the two of them.

"Hey hey hey," he said quickly, hoping to get their attention before they started shooting. "Let's be reasonable here. No one needs to die." He frowned for a second, then amended himself. "Yet."

"Get out of the way," the two teenagers responded. They responded at the same time, disturbing Marco and pissing off the other two.

Marco got out his pair of dimensional scissors and put them next to his pelvis. "If you two don't back down, I'll make sure neither of you exist!"

Both of his supposed kids went rigid.

"You wouldn't dare!" Jam said, incredulous.

"Dad, you can't!" Elizabeth complained.

Marco gave them both very hard looks. "You two are my kids from the future, huh? Prove it."

Both Jam and Elizabeth looked stunned. Jam finally said, "Well, when I turned twelve and puberty hit, you told me about how you had done your first-"

"That's enough, you pass," Marco interjected, blushing. He breathed in and out, then looked to Elizabeth knowingly. She gave him a silly smile.

"Glossaryck told me about when Star's wand got malfunctioned. You got hit by his book so hard it tore the clothes off of you."

Marco sighed, realizing that he had not been blessed with the troubles of nasty monsters or ludo's henchmen. The two teenagers were telling the truth. He had kids. From two different timelines.

He gave a wry smile. "Well, on the upside, you two prove something that I didn't think would happen."

They both looked at him, confused. "What?"

"I never thought I'd ever get laid."

Silence. Silence reigned for a solid ten seconds. The tension that had been rising since Elizabeth had revealed herself had been growing up to that point. And Marco had broken it with a stupid self-deprecating joke.

Jam giggled. Elizabeth snorted. "Wow, dad," they said in unison. "I knew mom said you were a dork, but-" They caught themselves and stared at each other.

"Yeah, creepy," Marco agreed. Now that they weren't trying to kill each other and he'd had time to look at them, he could believe that they were his kids. The brown hair was the biggest giveaway, but they both had his strong jaw and feminine body (although Jam had gotten more masculine, Marco noted dryly). The idea that they were actually his kids was starting to sink in. Panic overwhelmed his thoughts.

"HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE? HOW ARE YOU FROM DIFFERENT TIMELINES? WHY ARE YOU HERE? DID SOMETHING BAD HAPPEN? WHERE ARE FUTURE ME AND FUTURE EVERYONE ELSE? ARE THEY DEAD? DO I DIE EARLY ON? WHAT-"

Jam smacked him upside the head with the back of his hand, shutting Marco up. He backed up a bit, reeling mostly in surprise. His hand instantly went up to his face. "Ow," he whined.

Elizabeth looked at Jam with mock horror. "Really, Jam? Was that necessary?"

Jam shrugged. "You had the same dad as me. We don't have time for him to ramble on about what _might_ go wrong or be wrong."

Elizabeth waved her hand around, dismissing Jam's argument. "Not that, I meant how you bitch-slapped him. You should have just done a normal slap, like this."

She then proceeded to slap Marco across the face with the palm of her hand. Marco was no less prepared for the second hit than he was the first. "Ow, ow, stop it!"

They both gave him wide grins. "I don't know about Elizabeth," Jam explained. "But I don't usually get a chance to smack you across the face."

"No, no, Jam, believe you me, I've had just as few chances."

Marco scowled at the two. "Well, as long as you aren't trying to kill each other…"

"Only because you'd doom us both," Elizabeth explained.

"Otherwise, we'd be trying our hardest," Jam finished.

"Wh-" Marco stopped himself. He thought over his situation. Then he nodded. "You know what? I don't care why you're here. Not right now I don't. Because it doesn't matter."

His children looked inquisitively at him. "How can it not matter right now?" Jam asked, scoffing.

"Because right now we aren't going to worry about it," Marco replied. His eyes had turned sinister with a wild plan in his brain. "I need both of you to help me. Glossaryck and the book have been stolen. I need to find Ludo and get it back. And," he included before they could interrupt, "that is an order from your father."

Elizabeth scowled. "You can't tell us what to do, you aren't even really our father yet!"

"And I might never be if you can't help me," Marco replied. His tone was smug and rich but his face showed sober fear. "I'd probably die without you two. So help me. Please. You two can discuss your problem later, but for now I just need help."

Jam and Elizabeth shared a short, silent discussion on the matter, then looked to their father. They nodded.

 **Someone asked for me to give my thoughts on the story and stuff so I'm going to do that now.**

 **I'll be honest, I only had the first chapter in mind when I started. It was tempting to just keep it was a one-shot, but cliffhangers are bullshit. I'm updating every Sunday, if it hasn't been obvious. I wanted to make a story that didn't just end with Jackie being shallow or Marco randomly admitting his love. When I finally have everyone get back together, the idea is to have the reasons for what happens feel real. Please give as much constructive criticism as you can, and I hope you have enjoyed this mess so far!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for the break, Christmas got me off schedule. I have a better idea of what I want to do with the story now, so hopefully that'll start to show. This will definitely be a long story, and the main challenge will be keeping it on the same track from the beginning to end. So far so good. It wasn't the best idea to add in the Future Kids AU in the middle, but I was already in a story that fit it, and I wanted to write about it anyways, so a separate story with it would feel repetitive. I've set it up so that it should feel smoother from here on out. Enjoy, and please leave your comments below!**

"Uh, so, Dad?"

Elizabeth's uncertain voice broke through quiet noises of the forest around them. They'd been walking on a trail that would supposedly lead them to Ludo's cave for the past hour. Early on, Marco had realized that he hadn't asked where the hideout was, and after a brief set of questions, had gotten his bearings. He hadn't talked since then. Both Jam and Elizabeth had wanted to ask about something that had been bugging both, but they were afraid to ask. Their father, or the person who'd eventually grow up to be their father, seemed anxious and fixated on something the entire journey. It was only after the silence had become too much for the young teen that she eventually spoke up.

Her words, however, appeared to have fallen on deaf ears. Marco continued to hike onwards, seemingly not hearing his future daughters words. Elizabeth spoke up, making her voice just a touch louder. "Dad, can we talk?" Marco said nothing. Elizabeth pouted in irritation, then yelled, "Hey, DAD!" The shout finally broke the boy's concentration. He jumped, startled, and almost tripped as he tried to face her.

"What, what, what did I miss?" Marco's voice matched his body: jumpy, distracted, and paranoid. Jam scowled at his half-sister. He'd been brought up to respect his elders. One did not simply yell at their own father unless a crisis was underway.

"That's a bit rude, don't you think?" Jam spat.

Elizabeth looked at him like he had grown a third arm. "The hell are you talking about? You smacked him across the face earlier!"

"So did you." His voice got louder.

"AFTER you did it." Her voice got louder.

"I only did it once, cuz' I never get to. You can't keep being that disrespectful to my father like that."

"Ok, first of all, he's my father too, wiseass. Secondly, I don't think I need to take orders from some hypocritical scavenger who-"

"STOP IT!" Marco shouted, causing both of them to flinch. He noticed the looks on their faces as they turned away. Jam looked ashamed of himself, while Elizabeth looked resentful. _Interesting,_ Marco thought. _Good information for later._

"Both of you are acting like five-year-olds," he chided them. "I don't have time for this crap right now, and neither do you two." He turned to face Elizabeth specifically. "Now, what was it you wanted to ask?"

Elizabeth's glare stayed on Marco for a few seconds before she asked, "Why wouldn't you let us tell you why we were here or what our pasts are?"

"That's simple. I already know why you two are here, and I don't have time to listen to your lives' stories."

His words made both of the kids pay more attention. "Wait, what?" Jam asked, taken aback. "How do you-"

"Oh please," Marco interrupted him. "Star admits that she has a crush on me, the conversation ends badly, I leave to go fix the problem, and you two just happen to appear here. You two, supposedly my children from two different timelines: one where I'm with Star, and the other with Jackie. What an amazing coincidence, huh?"

Neither teenager responded. He was right, of course. They were there because of the Marco's romantic issues. If they hadn't been so short-sighted, they realized, they would have figured out that Marco had put the pieces together.

"But, dad," Jam asked, still unsure. "Don't you think that we need to talk about this as soon as possible?"

"No, Jam, I don't. Right now, I'm putting my romantic issues aside to help my friend. She's lost something very dear to her, and it's been two weeks too long since I've tried to make a serious effort to undo that. I just hurt her feelings horribly recently, and it's only fair that I try to make up for that." His gaze, one that had been cold with resolve, softened. "I understand that your existences matter a lot to you two, but I can't help you right now. Not until I fix this first problem." He turned around and started down the path again. "Besides, we're missing two major components."

Elizabeth spoke this time. "What do you mean? What components?"

"Glossaryck, for one. He'll know more about time travel and be able to give us vital information." He mumbled to himself, "So long as he isn't pulling his weird bullshit on us again."

"Huh?" Jam asked.

"Nothing. Secondly, we need to see your mothers. This is just as much of their problem as it is mine, and I need to hear their input first."

"Problem?" Both half-siblings sounded disgusted and hurt.

Marco rolled his eyes and faced them. "Your lives are in jeopardy. Wouldn't you call that a problem?"

"Oh, right."

So the trio continued onwards. There was little chatter, besides a few small feuds between Jam and Elizabeth. After three hours, they broke out of the forest and into a large clearing. What had once been forest was now a massive corn plantation. Acres upon acres of corn filled their view. Both Jam and Elizabeth's mouths were open, small pools of drool coming out. Marco heard a dripping noise and looked at the two. "What's up?"

"Corn," Elizabeth mumbled.

"Food," Jam mumbled.

Marco sighed. "I'll feed you two afterwards. Nachos, or enchiladas if I have the ingredients."

The two teens eyes grew wider and they looked at Marco, awestruck. "Really?" They sounded like he'd just told them they were getting puppies for Christmas.

Marco gave them an odd look. "Yes. Really. Now let's go."

The corn fields were empty, which unsettled Marco. A field this large would require several workers to be attending to it constantly, but there were no creatures around. A half hour later, they arrived at an entrance to a cave. Several wooden cogs, levers, cranes, and likewise machinery were connected to the cave. Torn up earth and mud lay around the entrance to the cave, which looked like some sort of mine, in a twenty-foot radius. The entrance to the cave was also abandoned.

Marco's voice shook as he tried to say, "I, uh, we need to, um…" he trailed off. His eyes started to dart all around him, looking for dangers.

"Dad?" Elizabeth sounded calm.

He blinked. "Ah, yes? What?"

Jam interceded. "Are you okay?"

Marco looked at the two of them, then shook his head. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just… stay alert."

And then they crept into the cave.

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"No, Ms. Butterfly, I will not help you." Buff Frog replied. He sounded stern, and tried to get across to the young princess that his reply was the end of the conversation. Star disagreed.

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeassssse, Buff Frog? Pretty please? With a nacho on top?"

Buff Frog looked disgusted at the notion of putting a nacho on top of a 'please'. "No."

Star groaned very audibly. After her conversation with Tom and Jackie, Tom had used his dimensional scissors to get them to Buff Frog's house (Star had visited once while Marco was sick). Yet after thirty whole minutes of begging and pleading, Buff Frog had refused to tell Star where Ludo's hideout was. Despite arguing that Marco was going to die and that Ludo needed to be stopped, Buff Frog had stayed stubbornly against her plan. If she died trying to save Marco, he argued, the whole realm would go to shit.

Star left Buff Frog to go talk with Jackie and Tom. They'd been making attempts at small talk, and each attempt had ended in awkward silences.

"So, how'd it go?" Jackie asked, eyes lighting up.

"No luck," Star huffed out.

Tom sputtered. "What!? I thought you said Buff Frog was your friend?"

"Sort of. It's complicated. He thinks that I'll die trying to save him, and that Mewni will go into chaos then."

Jackie shook her head. "How are we going to find the Lair, then?"

"I, I don't know," Star's voice broke. Her only idea had been to ask Buff Frog for directions and move from there. There was no other way that they could find Ludo in time. Her shoulders fell, and her body started to shiver. Despair didn't often overtake the young teen, but her failure to find Marco was about to take its toll. Her best friend was about to die because she had made a big fit over him not changing his feelings on the spot for her. Crushing self-hatred slowly seeped into her thoughts. If she hadn't been so stupid, so self-centered, this wouldn't have happened. The death of her friend would be on her shoulders. Her stupid, arrogant, ridiculous, weird-

Tom saw Star's reaction and got up. "No." Before either of the girls could ask, he stomped his way over to where Star had come from. A minute later, a scream broke the silence of the two girls. They started to get up, but as they were, Tom returned. He was sporting a big, vicious smile on his face and had a small trail of fire behind him.

"Right then." His voice was casual, as though nothing had happened. "The lair is one hour of mild hiking away from here, to the North-West. We might even be able to get there before Marco does."

Star narrowed her eyes. "What did you do?"

Tom shrugged. "Habits die hard. He'll be fine in about, oh say, a week?" He nodded. "Yep, about a week." Star's eyes grew fierce, but before she could speak, Tom interrupted her. "Hey, do you want Marco to die because we're all standing around like a bunch of jackasses, arguing about ethics?"

Star wanted to argue. She really wanted to argue. But Tom, damn him, had made a good point. Grudgingly, she muttered, "Fine, let's-"

"ARGGHGHGH!" Tom yelled at the top of his lungs. Jackie had kicked him in the nuts. She retracted her leg, looking upset.

"Janna always said that it would feel satisfying," She explained, guilt on her face. "But that just kinda felt… bad."

"Why! Why did you kick me in the balls?"

Jackie shrugged. "It's what Marco would've done if he were here."

Tom looked at her with a pained expression, then conceded. Star felt bad. She should have known that Marco would have done that. Tom stayed on the ground for another minute, then slowly got up. The three nodded, Tom still in pain, and they left.

True to what Tom had said, it only took them an hour to get to the lair. They arrived at the back entrance, a hole that led right into the ground. A wooden pulley system with a bucket attached led into the hole. Star let out a small sigh.

"Jackie, Tom, are you-"

"Yes, Star, I know what I'm getting myself into," Jackie interrupted her, irritated. She pulled out a small bottle of pepper spray and a stun gun. "I've kept these around in case we ever got attacked on another date."

Star looked unsure, but gave in and nodded. She looked to Tom. He shrugged.

"I'd like to see Marco again. He's interesting."

Star nodded. "Let's go."


	6. Chapter 6

"It's too dark, I can barely see anything."

"Tom, do you think you can turn up your natural glow?"

"Not without burning the rope and plunging us into the abyss below."

The trio of teenagers that'd set out to find Marco had found themselves in an odd predicament. They had expected some sort of lighting system in the well, but there was none. It had only taken a few seconds of descending for them to be almost completely enwrapped in shadows. If it weren't for the soft light that came from Tom's fire, they wouldn't have been able to see each other.

"Crap. Jackie, do you have any kinda flashlight or torch or miniature sun?"

"Sorry, Star. No flashlight, torch, and I don't even _know_ what a miniature sun is."

"Drat."

Tom sighed, frustrated. "Star, come on. Just use your wand already."

Star's mouth shrunk in size. She bit her lip: an unconscious nervous tick. The wand had been acting oddly ever since she'd rescued Marco from Ludo's castle. Her spells had a chance of becoming cruel or turn against her. She wasn't quite sure why her wand was malfunctioning. All she knew was that she couldn't trust any spell that came out of the wand.

"Tom, I- I don't if that's a good idea."

He threw his hands up into the air. "Why the hell not? It's a magic wand, it's only useful if you use it for making magic. And right now we _need_ some magic light!"

Star scoffed. "Tom, listen. I don't- I'm not sure why, but my wand hasn't been working correctly. Some of the spells come out green, and then they start acting funny. Like, attacking and almost killing us funny."

Tom stared at Star for a while. Afterwards, he politely asked, "May I see your wand?"

Star hesitated only for a second before handing it over. Tom examined the wand for a moment, mostly just staring and touching the broken star at the top. After a minute, he looked up towards Star. "It's definitely broken, but it can be controlled." He sounded like a doctor after a patient's examination, telling them what was wrong and what medications they were about to be on. "So long as you aren't in a bad mood, it shouldn't malfunction."

Star frowned. She still seemed hesitant. "A bad mood?"

Tom nodded genially. "Yeah, you know: angry, sad, distraught, nervous, complacent, bitter, jealous-"

Star interrupted him. "Tom, I'm already in a bad mood, and I don't think it's going away anytime soon. I'm scared for Marco, I'm scared for myself, I'm angry at Marco, I'm angry at myself, I'm-"

"Okay, okay, I get the point." Tom folded his arms. He looked like he wanted to criticize Star's lack of control, but he kept his mouth shut. He wasn't much better himself.

Jackie, who'd kept quiet and listened most of the conversation (it was her strong suit in larger groups in foreign lands) spoke up. "Star, you need to relax. Chill out, let the tension out of your body, etc."

Star and Tom both looked at Jackie as if she'd just said something obviously impossible. They didn't say anything, just looked tired and irritated. Jackie got confused and a shade defensive. "What, what gives?"

"Jackie, I've got two modes: hyperactive and asleep. I don't do calm and relaxed. I do me." She pointed to herself in a very convoluted gesture.

Jackie rolled her eyes. "Star, are you telling me that you aren't willing to relax your body for a minute or two in order to save your best friend? That you aren't even willing to try?"

Star's eyes went wide. "What- What are you trying to imply?"

Jackie kept her voice low in hopes that Star would do the same. "Marco treats you like family, Star. He loves you in a way he'll never love me: like a best friend. He's put his life on the line to try and make you happy. Right now, you're telling me that you aren't willing to even relax your body to save him." Jackie gave Star a hard look. "What kind of a friend is that?"

Star wanted to erupt. Jackie had no idea of what she and Marco had been through. What she'd done for him, what they did together, what they _had_ together. What right did Jackie have to call Star Butterfly a terrible friend? She didn't know anything, she was just a stupid, pretty, dumb, skateboarding idiot who-

"Star." Tom's voice broke her from her inner monologue.

"What?" She snapped out, looking daggers at him. Then she noticed the green light that had lit up the well. She could that the well was made up of dirt and rocks, how little bugs crawled in and out of its walls, and that they were but three feet away from the surface of a pool of water below them. A small opening that led into the cave system faced the three of them. Jackie stopped the pulley system from letting them drop down any further. Star looked down towards her hand, the hand that had been holding on to her wand. The wand was the source of the green light.

"Star?" Jackie tried not to let on that she was scared, but only partially succeeded. Star looked up. Jackie had been right. Of course she'd been right. Star's best friend was in danger and she wasn't fit to help as she was. And if there was anyone who could teach Star how to calm down, it would be Jackie.

"Jackie," Star asked in a small voice. "How do I relax myself?"

Jackie took in a deep breath. "Breathing. I have a technique I use whenever I get upset." Jackie showed Star, and Star repeated the technique. It took a couple of minutes for her to get the hang of it, but she did. It was a weird feeling for Star, like when she dipped down or did a complicated spell. It felt like a weak protection against her emotions, but it was some protection.

"Thanks, Jackie," Star finally said. Her voice no longer sounded bubbly and chaotic. It wasn't void of life and emotion, but those aspects were dimmed down considerably. Her foot was no longer tapping itself against the floor, a noise that none of them had realized was there until it was gone. The color of her wand changed from green to purple and illuminated a larger portion of the tunnel ahead of them. Tom looked at her in awe and, if he was being honest with himself, a bit of envy.

"Huh," he said. "How did you learn that?"

Jackie didn't look at him. "Too long a story. We need to help Marco."

Tom didn't argue. He simply kept staring at Jackie and made a mental note to himself. Star nodded and gave a small, cute smile. "Right, let's."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Marco's group didn't have any trouble with the lack of light. Jam had a miniature lantern with him and Elizabeth had a perfectly working wand. There was a bit of arguing between the two of them at the start about who should get to light the way, until Marco suggested that they both do so and to shut up. The cave turned out to be more of a cave-mine hybrid, with some parts of the cave made of earth and others rock. Wooden supports could be seen every twenty feet or so. It smelled like rotting food; more specifically, it smelled of corn. Bits and pieces could be seen almost everywhere. There was no sound, save for the occasional drip of water from the low ceiling.

The cave-mine lead the trio through several different rooms and forks. One room looked like it had been made to store corn, although no corn was currently stored. Another room had three levels, the bottom level for churning corn and the other two levels for bringing corn in. That room had a bit of cornmeal left in it, but not much. A third room looked like it was made for shucking corn, as piles and piles of rotting leaves were scattered throughout the room. Every single room that they went through had one consistent detail: they were vacant. Marco had expected having to sneak around just to avoid getting into a big quarrel with the guards, but no guards could be seen. Every new room they found that didn't have anyone made Marco's paranoia get worse.

"Elizabeth," Marco's voice sounded tense. "Are you sure that-" A wooden support creaked as it slipped half a centimeter. Marco jumped so high that his head hit the ceiling. He made a sound of pain and hit the floor with his bottom. His future kids looked modestly disappointed with him.

"You okay, dad?" Jam asked, holding out his hand. Marco shook his head, tried to act tough, and fell again. Embarrassed, he took his sons hand.

Elizabeth had her arms crossed. She wanted to make a smart comment about being wound up like rat trap, but she thought better of it. It wouldn't make her chances of being the preferred sibling any better. "You were asking, Dad?" She couldn't keep all of her sass out of her voice. After all, her father had just made a fool of himself. She did what anyone would have.

Marco looked around nervously. "Are you sure that this is Ludo's hideout? This looks abandoned."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Of course this is his hideout. I had to listen to you recall your adventures with mom a million times when I was younger. You still have this place on my map at home. Besides, how would you explain the rows and rows of corn?"

Marco nodded, but kept looking all around them. "Okay, yeah, but then where is everyone? There should be workers and supervisors and guards all around."

Jam shrugged. "Maybe they went on vacation?"

Marco shook his head. "I doubt Ludo would give out vacations, especially considering how weird he's been lately. It's almost if…"

Marco trailed off, but before either of his kids could prompt him, a scream rang out through the cave. Marco looked up, and suddenly froze. The trio didn't say or do anything for a five count. Then Jam exclaimed, voice filled with chivalry, "Prisoners! We need to help them!" and ran off towards the noise. After a moment, the other two ran after him, if only to stay as a group.

After a few forks in the tunnels, they arrived at a prison. Bars of what appeared to be magically reinforced wood created a long hallway of prison cells. Monsters of all shapes and sizes filled the cells. Some looked like bugs, others like amphibians, others still looked reptilian. All of them looked about ready to fall over and pass out. Their bones touched their skin almost all over, and most of them didn't look like they were focusing on anything. Beneath the trio was a set of similar wooden bars, below which were what appeared to be hundreds of rats. They scurried around in filth so horrible that Marco and Elizabeth nearly puked. They all looked dumbfounded.

"What, what happened?" Jam demanded, asking no one in particular. One of the monsters looked over towards him and coughed. He seemed only mildly more coordinated than the other monsters.

"Ludo… insane…. Paranoid…. Locked away…. Starving… thirsty…." Then he passed out.

Jam began to shake with rage. He pointed his gun at the wooden bars. "One second," He muttered, completely focused. Elizabeth tried to say 'wait', but her voice was lost in the din. Jam's plasma bullet ricocheted off of the bar and bounced around the room until it hit the ceiling. The entire prison shook.

"Dumbass!" Elizabeth shouted, her eyes wide. "Those bars are magically reinforced, they won't budge to anything until their source turns them off or loses power."

Jam's cheeks turned red. "Oh. Sorry, my bad."

Elizabeth shook her head in disbelief. Meanwhile, Marco approached the cell and looked around. He saw a monster that looked familiar.

"Lobster Claws?"

Lobster Claws looked up. "Huh?"

"It's me, Marco. The human who tried to teach you how to be good. Remember me?"

Lobster Claws squinted his eyes, trying to think. Just before Marco thought that it was a fruitless effort, Lobster Claws smiled and waved.

"Great!" Marco's hopes rised. "Do you know where Ludo is?"

Lobster Claws squinted again, then nodded. He (as well as the rest of the monsters) pointed towards the end of the hallway. "Follow the green light," he whispered. Marco barely got it before Lobster Claws passed out.

"Don't you guys fret, we'll be back for you," he assured them. He gestured to Jam and Elizabeth, who had started to get into a small fight. "Let's go."

They went down to the end of the hallway and eventually started to see a dim green light. They followed the light until they came across a large chamber. In the chamber was dozens upon dozens of half-eaten corn cobs. A small green bird thing was sitting on the ground, holding an odd wand. There was a large, messy book in front of him. Ludo was talking to the book, and it sounded like the book was talking back.

"No, I've told you a thousand times, I'M NOT A PRINCESS!" Ludo shouted with such force that the room shook.

"Whatever you say, m'lady," a cocky, annoying voice responded. Glossaryck. "And anyways, deary, that's not important right now. You have guests."

Marco grinded his teeth. He couldn't tell if Glossaryck was on Ludo's side at the moment, or if he was just being cryptic and helping him in a weird way. What he _did_ know was that Glossaryck was pissing him off. Ludo made a weird, confused sound before turning around. He scowled at Marco.

"Do you mind, boy? I'm sort of in the middle of something." His eye was twitching and he kept looking back and forth between Marco and his wand. Then Ludo looked at Jam and Elizabeth. "Who are you two? Star's friends? Marco's? Mercenaries?" He put his hand over the wand in a possessive gesture. "Are you here for my wand?"

"Not quite," Jam answered.

"We want the book," Elizabeth finished.

"Hmmph. Finishing each other's lines. Did you rehearse that?"

"No, they're just… weird like that." Marco answered, hoping he wouldn't hurt his future kids' feelings.

"Whatever. I'm busy, so you're going to have to play with my pets first." Ludo snapped his fingers. His pet spider and eagle, who'd been hiding above close to the ceiling, feel onto them and attacked.

 **Well, not as much progression as previously hoped. I had wanted to get through the fight in this chapter, but it doesn't look like that's happening. I got caught up in that well scene. Ah well, enjoy and please leave comments below.**


	7. Chapter 7

Marco, Jam, and Elizabeth went into combat mode. Marco jumped back and prepared to counter the upcoming attacks. Jam and Elizabeth rolled out to opposite sides of the monster grouping, each shooting out beams of energy and magic towards the eagle and spider combo. The eagle grabbed the spider and dodged the beams. The eagle screeched as it divebombed and let go of the spider overtop of Marco. The spider spinned around and shot out a web to trap Marco. He sidestepped the web and tried to grab on. He succeeded with the grab, but as he tried to pull the spider down, the web broke and he fell on his back. Jam and Elizabeth were preoccupied with the eagle, who'd been weaving in and out of their beams of death. The spider landed on top of Marco, venom dripping from its mouth. As it's fangs came down, Marco screamed and threw his arms up in front of him. Some of the web was still stuck to his hands, so as the spider's fangs came down, they were filled with its own web. The spider recoiled, spitting bits of web out of its fangs. Marco took the opportunity and kicked out at one of the spider's legs. The spider drew its leg back and howled in rage. It scurried over towards Marco and swung one leg forward. Marco dodged, but the spider swung its rear at him while he was still dodging, and he was sent back several feet. Meanwhile, Jam and Elizabeth had been trying and failing to bring down the giant eagle. Every time they thought they had cornered it, it would dive out from the beams and counterattack. They had dodged every counterattack so far, but all the rolling on the rock floor was starting to wear them out.

"Sister!" Jam yelled, commanding and stern. "Use one of your bigger blasts! The ones where it takes up the room!"

The eagle divebombed her. She barely dodged in time to avoid its razor-sharp talons, instead trading for a slightly bruised back by rolling away. "I can't, dumby! It's got me pinned!"

Jam furrowed his brow. "I'll distract it, you get the spell ready!"

The eagle tried to hit Elizabeth with its wing while still airborne. Jam aimed his shot carefully and clipped the bird before it could attack. The eagle screeched, the odor of burning chicken quickly filling up the room. It rose up in towards the ceiling and swung around to aim at the teenager that had just shot it. Jam stood his ground and stared the bird in the eye. Halfway down, the yell of a young girl rang out in the chamber:

"Syrup Tsunami Shockwave!"

Pure Maple Syrup shot out of Elizabeth's wand with so much force that she got pushed against the wall. It took only seconds for the syrup to hit the eagle and spider, quickly overtaking them and forcing them into the walls. Both Marco and Jam were able to avoid the syrup by jumping onto the monsters as they got caught in the wave. They jumped off as their respective monsters hit the walls and had their lights knocked out. After the spell finished, the syrup quickly dissipated until there was only a few globs hanging onto the walls, the floor, the eagle and spider, and the three teenagers. Marco let out a sigh of relief and gave a thumbs up to his fellows.

"Thanks, guys," he coughed out. Pain shot through his back and chest, and he hoped that all his ribs were intact. There had been more than a couple of fights in the past where he'd gotten enormous bruises on his body.

Jam smiled pleasantly at the scene, putting his gun away. "It's always nice to win a fight, especially without casualties."

Elizabeth, who'd been shaking syrup off of her, looked at him as if he'd just told her that they were in a holocaust museum. "Casualties? Jeez, Jam, how do most of your fights end?"

Jam grimaced. He turned away from her. "Not well. I'd… rather not talk about it."

Marco looked around the room. Something was bothering him, something that was missing from the room. He couldn't put his finger on it, until…

"Don't move."

Ludo's voice was as cold as the cave walls around them. Marco couldn't see him, but he could sense a faint green light from behind him. He froze, as did Jam and Elizabeth. Both Jam and Elizabeth could see Ludo out of the side of their heads. When Ludo spoke, it didn't have his usual self-glorification or condescending tone. Instead, he sounded like a businessman, explaining the details of a contract to them.

"How did you-"

"It's been two weeks, Marco," Ludo interrupted, bored. "I've had a long time to talk with our mutual friend. I'd go on and on about how informational it has been and how I've gotten stronger, but you don't need to hear that. You already know what's in that book. So I'm going to cut to the chase. You call off your allies, and I don't create a mess."

Elizabeth took a step forward and started to protest, but Ludo's wand began to shine even brighter. "Ah, ah, ah, dearie. Let's not do anything rash. Put your wands down and no one has to die."

Both Elizabeth and Jam's eyes went as wide as dinner plates. Marco took in a shaky breath. "It's okay, guys. Put them down."

"But-"

"No butts, miss. Just do what he says."

Grudgingly, Jam and Elizabeth put their weapons on the ground. Slowly. Ludo smiled.

"Wonderful. Now we can all just stay here and wait for Star to arrive. I think a chat is in order."

Ludo's eyes started to dart around the room. He looked down towards his wand, staring at it intensely. Both Jam and Elizabeth shot worried looks to each other. Marco frowned. "What is it?"

"No, no, no, no," Ludo muttered to himself, his eye twitching as he scowled down at the wand. "The boy is useless, he is only bait." Ludo went silent, staring down at his wand again. While Ludo continued the conversation with what appeared to be no one, Marco looked over towards Jam. He mouthed the words 'how far back'. Jam blinked and gave him an odd look. He mouthed back 'green'. Marco sighed. He'd never been great at mouthing messages across long distances. "How far back?" Marco whispered, hoping that Ludo was too crazy to notice anything. Jam's face lit up and he nodded. He put up one finger and pointed towards his feet. One foot. Ludo was one foot behind Marco. That was plenty range for a back-kick.

So, while Ludo was talking to himself, he received a surprise foot into his face, courtesy of Marco Diaz.

"Now!" Marco yelled at the top of his lungs. His voice cracked a bit while he was screaming. "Get him, now!"

Jam and Elizabeth reacted with lightning speed. Jam grabbed his gun and aimed for Ludo's head, while Elizabeth took up her wand and prepared a spell. Marco jumped out of the way and stood between the two teenagers, ready to attack. Ludo recovered, and then looked around the room. He frowned, annoyed.

"Oh. Right. You have legs. Forgot about that." He took out a pair of dimensional scissors and ripped open a hole. "I guess I'll be seeing you all lat-"

"Narwhal Blast!" a voice echoed from across the room. Everyone looked to see where the voice had come from, and as they did, a giant, green narwhal went sailing past them. It tackled Ludo into the wall with such a force that the walls shook. Marco looked in awe at the scene, then back at where the narwhal had come from. Star Butterfly, arms stretched out with wand in hand, stood firmly at the entrance of the cave. Small bits of pink electricity, as well as some green, zapped around the wand. Behind her (well behind her) were Tom and Jackie were running to catch up to Star. She'd apparently sped past them towards the fight. Marco's body finally unclenched and a smile broke out in his face. "Star! Jackie!... Tom?"

Tom nodded, panting. "Sup'?" he said in-between breaths

Marco frowned. He thought about asking why Tom had tagged along, but he shrugged it off. He was sure that Tom wanted something, and he didn't want to break his suddenly high mood. Star's stare broke and she got out a big, bright smile. "Marco, you're okay!" She rushed over to meet him and gave him a hug. Marco returned the hug, not as enthusiastically. He ended it earlier and gave a smile to Jackie. She came over and they hugged, a much more intimate hug. Star's smile wavered, and she eventually settled for being content. Tom, Jam, and Elizabeth saw the whole interaction. One of Tom's eyebrows went up and he started to look at the three of them differently. Jam smiled broadly, while Elizabeth grew very still.

"Shit," Elizabeth muttered, looking away.

"Hey!" Marco scolded her. "Language!"

Star, Jackie and Tom looked at the two strangers. Jackie asked, "Marco, who're your new friends?"

Marco 'eeehhhh'd, saying "I'll explain it later, right now we have to-"

"Oh?" a silky, dark voice came from across the room. The group searched for the sound, but they couldn't find its source.

"What was that?" Jam asked softly, his body relaxing for combat.

"Look down, boy," The voiced echoed through the room. Then Ludo's green wand started to shake and glow green.

"Children!" Glossaryck firmly stated, appearing out of nowhere. "We need to go! Grab the book and let's vamos!"

Everyone looked towards Glossaryck with surprise. "Glossaryck?" Marco asked, bewildered. "Where did you come from?"

"No time," he responded firmly. The wand started to shake harder and the cave began to shake with it. "We need to go."

After a short search, Jackie found the book and they ran out, running from the green wands ever-growing voice. "It's time." It repeated over and over again, overlapping itself. "It's TIME."

 **Sorry for being late, I got distracted yesterday. This scene has changed a lot as I've thought it through. Originally, Star was going to fight alongside Marco, but I hadn't figured out how the action was going to turn out. Besides, I felt as though it was time for Marco to win one of the fights himself. Next chapter should be next week, so long as no problems occur. After the chase, there will be a lot of explanation stuff and exposition, so get ready. Thank you all for reading, and enjoy the rest of your day!**


	8. Chapter 8

The sound of feet rapidly hitting the floor and heavy breathing filled the hallway. Sweat began to drip down everyone's faces, besides Tom and Glossaryck. The smell of sweat and fear mixed in with the mildew to become truly gut-wrenching. Star's and Elizabeth's wands lit up the cavern, allowing them to see the branching hallways in front of them. The jail cells that had held the monsters and rats were wrecked and empty, but no one stopped to ask why. They only cared about running, running far, far away from whatever noise had started laughing in Ludo's chamber. They had to get away. Because… why?

"Glossaryck!" Marco blurted out in-between breaths. "Why- Are- We- Running?"

Glossaryck didn't turn to face Marco. He simply continued gliding through the caverns, leading the group from tunnel to tunnel. "Because we're in danger."

Marco looked at the small blue mentor with disgust. "What danger?" He had a feeling that whatever answer Glossaryck was going to give would either be annoying or cryptic. With Marco's luck, it would be both.

Glossaryck turned to grin widely at the exasperated boy. "What danger _aren't_ we running from?"

Wonderful. It had been both. Marco would've let out a deep sigh if he hadn't already been breathing as hard as he could. Instead he rolled his eyes and gave Glossaryck another contemptuous glare. "I just saved you. The least you could do for us is talking like a normal person."

Glossaryck's smile grew larger. "I'm not a normal person, Diaz. And besides, you didn't save me; you saved your own ass."

Marco blinked, then frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

Glossaryck turned back around to face where they were going. He kept the tone of his smile as they continued onwards. "Marco, Marco, do you really think that I-" Glossaryck stopped abruptly, causing everyone behind him to crash into each other. Before they could give him crap about it, though, he pointed forward and solemnly commanded, "look."

Looking up, they saw a green cloud slowly expanding towards them. It seemed almost alive, that gaseous being. Wondrous little shapes came in and out of existence as whatever it was became larger and larger. The formless mass silently spread to take up the entire room ahead of them, moving with supernatural grace. They all looked awestruck at the being, except for Glossaryck. He quickly turned 'round to face the dumb-founded group of teens.

"This is the danger," he spurted out, face empty of wit and humor. "We need to-" But as he spoke, the green cloud came out from behind them. The green cloud leisurely, yet somehow rapidly, surrounded the entire group. Sweat started to drip down Glossarycks face. "Well, that- happened."

Marco, Star, Tom, Jackie, Jam and Elizabeth blinked their eyes several times and then jerked their heads around, as if only just comprehending then and there that they were screwed. Jam's face grew grim, and he closed his eyes in acceptance of his fate. Jackie's face grew pale and she grabbed onto Marco, who, being even paler than her, grabbed back harder. Tom, Star, and Elizabeth started to shoot magic spells out into the fog. Their spells had no effect on the gas, passing through it without so much as changing the gas's course. As the fog swirled in its entrancing, vicious cycle around them, Star's face lit up.

"Marco!" Star ordered, voice crisp with terror. "Dimensional Scissors!"

Marco's eyes went wide, and he slapped himself in the face. "Ugh, of course," he muttered, silently cursing himself. He fumbled through his pockets to find the stainless pair of magical scissors. With a quick swipe, the portal was open, and they were gone seconds later. As they crashed into the Diaz's living room, the fog moved to get into the portal. Milliseconds before it could cross over, Marco zipped the portal closed. They were safe. Finally safe.

Everyone collapsed into the various furniture around the room. The physical demands of combat and sprinting caught up to them, and the only noise that could be heard was heavy breathing. A full minute passed before Elizabeth looked up and asked, "Uh, so… what now?"

Marco stopped his heavy breathing and glanced towards Glossarycks book, and then Glossaryck. "Mission success, I guess." He looked towards Star, who was relaxing comfortably. She had calmed down very quickly, faster than Marco had ever seen her calm down from a serious occasion. "When did you guys leave?"

Star shrugged. "Shortly after you ditched Jackie." Her voice was light and bubbly, although Marco thought he could hear a hidden blade beneath it. "She told me what happened, I pouted, she smacked some sense into me, Tom appeared for some reason-"

"I wanted to borrow your stuff again," Tom explained dully.

"-We talked to Buff Frog, found the cave, and went after your arrogant butt." She gave him a disappointed look, as though she were a teacher with a struggling student. "Honestly, Marco: Ludo, by yourself? You're smarter than that."

Marco grew defensive. "Hey, Jackie doesn't have any combat experience and you were pouting. What were my other options?"

Star looked at him blankly. "Waiting for me to stop pouting?"

"That would've taken too long. It would've felt like I was trying to make up for something I hadn't been thinking about."

Star sighed, letting her eyes fall to the floor. "You already hadn't been thinking about it. For two weeks."

Marco grimaced. She was right. "I hadn't realized that you had… listen, Star, I wanted to prove that I still cared about you; that despite Jackie, you're still my best friend and that I love you. Risking my life seemed fairly reasonable at the time."

Star shrugged. "Yeah, I… I guess." She looked up and gave Marco a worried stare. "But you would've died if it hadn't been for…" Star's gaze travelled from Marco to the two oddly dressed teens that were giving each other death stares. "Those two." Star cocked her head to the side, now curious. "Who are you?"

Elizabeth and Jam stopped their staring contest of doom to give their attention to Star. "I'm" they said in unison, then frowned at each other. Their staring battle resumed, neither paying anyone else in the room any attention. Jackie, who'd been relaxing beside Marco and getting ready to punch him at the opportune time, sat up.

"What's up with them?"

Marco scoffed. "Like I said earlier, they're… uh… my future kids." His two future kids nodded together without breaking the contest. "The girl's name is Elizabeth and the boy's is Jam. Elizabeth, supposedly, comes from-"

"Wait," Star interrupted, suddenly mesmerized with the brown-haired girl. "Those things on her cheeks. Those are Mewman marks." She looked dumbfounded at Marco, then suddenly pumped her fist into the air. "Hell yeah, not out of the game yet!"

Elizabeth pumped her arm into the air likewise, a stupid grin overtaking her face. "Go team Starco!"

Jackie looked at Marco with an odd expression. He shrugged. "And so the other one is… mine?" Jackie sounded very much like she was choosing her words carefully.

"Yes indeed, mother," Jam sounded off confidently. He pumped his hand into the air as well. "Go team Jarco!"

Marco rubbed his eyes. "They say that they're from two separate futures and that they're trying to secure their existences." The two nodded. Elizabeth decided to speak up first, keeping her words bland as she stared daggers at Jam.

"Marco and Star get married in my world, go to Mewni, live happily, etc., etc. Then one day, future Glossaryck tells me that there's been a problem with the timeline and to go back to this time and place. Something about a foreign entity." She pointed to Jam. "And here he is, trying to mess up the timeline."

Jam scowled. "From where I come from, Jackie and Marco get married, the starcolypse happens, and the world looks like one of those Micheal Bay movies I was told were awful. I find a way to travel through time and find out that there's an anomaly in this place at this time." He pointed to Elizabeth. "And what do I find? This girl messing up the timeline."

Elizabeth's glare grew darker, and in turn Jam's scowl grew fiercer. They slowly got closer as their stares intensified. Tom, who had walked out of the room to get some OJ, walked back in and chuckled. "You two get any closer," he remarked wittily, "And you'll be kissing."

The instant repulsion that sent the two back into their respective chairs was so quick that Marco thought they had teleported. They blushed, then stared daggers at Tom. He looked unamused. "You're kids are fond of staring, Marco." Tom's wit continued on past Marco's future offspring to Marco himself. "Looks like you forgot to teach them not to do that." Marco looked daggers at Tom, then realized that he was imitating his kids. He sighed. He'd been sighing a lot recently. He made a mental note to consider it latter.

Marco looked over to Glossaryck. He'd been floating in the background, lazily watching everything unfold. "Any answers?"

Glossaryck shrugged. "You need to communicate better with your friends. All of you. Except for Jackie. Jackies cool." Glossaryck snapped his fingers in Jackie's direction. She nervously snapped her fingers back, confused. "Also if you two are from different timelines," Glossaryck pointed at the angsty children of Marco, "How come both of you are here now? You've already messed up time enough for neither of you two to exist."

The two teens, as well as Marco and Star, perked up. "Huh?"

"Two timelines can't coexist. Not even for an instance. So why are you two doing just so?" Jam and Elizabeth looked at each other with blank stares, then looked up. They shrugged their shoulders. Glossaryck grinned. "Food for thought." Then he took his book and went up to Star's room. Everyone looked up as he ascended.

"Wow," Marco declared. "What a dick."

 **Almost didn't get this one out in time. From now on, there won't be weekly updates, only updates when I have time/motivation. That way there's less stress and, hopefully, more quality. I hope you enjoyed it, or if not, left early enough so that you haven't wasted you time. Reviews encouraged for improvement.**


	9. Chapter 9

Glossarycks departure to his room on the second floor had left the group speechless; not because his disappearance had been so incredible, but because no one knew what to say. The silence did not last however.

"Whelp," Tom proclaimed, clapping his hands as obnoxiously loud as his voice was. "I'm done. Can I borrow your music, Marco? My CDs…" Toms eyes squinted nervously as they scanned the room for anyone who might possibly refute him, " _mysteriously_ went missing after an intense game of ping-pong."

Marco groaned an almost inaudible sound. The CDs Tom was referring to hadn't been Toms. They had been Marco's.

"Yes, Tom, you can borrow my CDs," He responded through gritted teeth. He gave Tom a sharp scowl before adding, "Don't break them this time," in a voice that clearly stated that Marco knew the CDs were as good as trashed already.

Tom gave him a cocky smile and snapped his fingers into finger guns pointed at Marco. "Gotcha."

As Tom left to go acquire what would soon be a pile of broken polycarbonate, Star looked up to Marco. "Uh, Marco?"

Marco looked to her. Despite getting her book back for her (or having tried and succeeded with her help), she hadn't recovered the way he was hoping she would. She wasn't bursting with energy, she wasn't ready to embrace the world with her unique personality, she wasn't sure of herself no matter what. It was like she had taken pills that suppress herself, or, god forbid, in an angsty fanfic that should have ended long ago.

"Yes, Star?"

She lifted up her wand and pointed towards the star in the center. The crack that separated the golden half of the Star from the empty darkness next to it stood out in intense clarity to the young teen. "We didn't get the wand." Her eyes were weary and filled with disappointment for herself. "It's still broken."

Marco stared at the wand for a solid ten seconds before slapping himself in the face. "Right, no wand, shit, alright…" he sighed and rubbed his hand all around his face, letting it mush it up. The wand. He'd forgotten the wand. Half the reason he'd gone on the trip and they had forgotten it. Marco glanced at Star through his fingers and, hesitantly, asked, "Can we go back?"

Frustration broke out on Stars face like acne on pre-teen Marco's face. Before she could answer in what would've been a condescending tone only Star could make, Jackie spoke up informatively, "How do we know the green gas won't still be there?"

Marco cringed, then shook his head and looked away… to see Jam and Elizabeth staring hard into each other's eyes. Their faces were only five inches away as their faces shook, their eyes turned red, their tears ran in rivers down their cheeks. Absolute determination defined their entire bodies. Artists, athletes, and craftsmen alike would have slaughtered babies to have but a sliver of the intense focus on a single action that the two teenagers employed to their death stares.

"What the heck are you two doing?"

They answered in perfect unison, as symmetric as their concentration. "Staring contest to determine the best child."

Marco rolled his eyes and mildly scowled away from them. Tom was right. They were fond of staring at each other. "Yeah, okay, whatever. Star," Marco looked at Star with tight-knit eyebrows. "Can you and Elizabeth go talk to Glossaryck? You two know him the best."

Star looked at Marco like he was crazy. She was slowly starting to act more like herself, as seen in her befuddled response: "I barely know him."

"Same," Elizabeth stated without ending her stare.

"That's still more than the rest of us," Marco countered. "We need to know as much about the green cloud and the time travel stuff as possible." He gave her what he hoped wasn't a pleading smile. "Please?"

Star stared at him, then nodded. Her eyes went half-lidded. "Come on, Elizabeth. Time for more riddles and pudding."

Elizabeth bit her lip. She was clearly winning the staring contest, but it would take at least another five minutes to wear Jam down. There was only one option.

She poked Jam in the eyes.

He sprung back, his hand flying to cover his stinging eyes. He fell on his back in a satisfying thump.

"Suck it, rag boy! I win!" She proclaimed to the crowd of four as her eyes twitched uncontrollably.

Jam rubbed his eyes and scowled in bitter hatred at Elizabeth. "You cheated. And cheaters never truly win."

Elizabeth stuck her tongue out at him as she proceeded to stand next to Star, who fist bumped her daughter. "She didn't break a single rule," Star declared quietly. "She simply rewrote the rules." She and Elizabeth went up the stairs and disappeared from sight. The sound of a door opening and closing was heard seconds later.

"Alright then." Marco didn't know if Star supporting Elizabeth was a sign of recovery or resignment. He shrugged it off and looked over to see Jackie supporting Jam and looking over his eyes. Her smooth hands glided over Jams own to reveal his throbbing red eyes, still watering from terrible if only temporary agony. She carefully inspected them with the care and love of a mother.

"You'll be fine, but you should probably get some rest." Her voice was calm but direct. She looked up to Marco, who realized too late that he'd been staring. His cheeks flushed a deep crimson, and she gave a quick smile before returning to wary neutrality. "He needs time to rest. And…" she hesitated. "I need some time to unwind. Tonight was a lot, and I think I need to relax and let everything set in." She looked down at Jam, who was still rubbing his eyes. "I'll let Jam stay at my house. You've got enough company for one night, and I need to ask him more questions about this all."

Marco nodded. "Yeah, that's… that's probably for the best." He couldn't keep his eyes on Jackie so he looked Jam. He had risen by himself, eyes still watering, and nodded. He looked miserable, but kept his head up, high and proud. He wanted to look dignified and cool in front of his parents, much like his father.

"We'd better leave now," Jam said clearly. "It's already late."

Marco looked out from behind himself and looked through the window. The sky was pitch black, only lit by the street lamps and a nearly full moon, it's pale light gleaming across the pool of black that surrounded it. It must have been early in the morning, sometime around three or four A.M. Marco looked back to Jackie.

"I, uh…" He scratched his head looked away again. "I'm sorry that tonight didn't go as planned."

Jackie shrugged and smiled. Her smile was warm and airy, like that of the winds in summer. "I'll see you tomorrow." Her voice spoke more than her words alone, assuring him that she was okay that their plans had changed. She pecked him on the cheek as she left, causing Marco's crimson red to deepen further. Jam, who still stood proud despite his pain, broke out into a wide grin that stated, 'who's the winner now, Elizabeth?'

They left. And Marco was alone… For all of ten seconds.

"Hey, Marco!" Tom shouted from the kitchen. "Come in here! You gotta see this!"

Marco's face dropped. "What is it?"

"No time, just come see it!"

Marco sighed. It had been a long night, and he'd been hoping to just be able to fester about his problems in his bed while hopelessly trying to get some sleep. He grumbled something about 'demons and how he needed to get some holy water on hand' when he was met with a terribly familiar face.

"Hey Marco," Janna said, smooth and relaxed despite being tied up and held down by a demon. "What's new with you?"

Marco stood, too tired to be dumbfounded again, at the mess in front of him. Jars of peanut butter, grape jam, and pickles lay smashed next to broken eggs, a still leaking carton of milk, mushed bananas, and torn bread (which was, at the moment, soaking up the milk flood). Janna lay wrapped in what appeared to be red, glowing string in the mess of food that covered Marco's floor. She gave Marco sensual eyes, which would have worked better if there hadn't been peanut butter smushed against her cheeks. Tom, panting and sweating with a triumphant vigor, looked up at Marco.

"I caught her hiding away in your refrigerator when I went to steal a small snack before going," he explained, still high on his victorious setup. "I think she might be some sort of assassin or spy for… something. She put up a good fight, but I distracted her with the peanut butter. Should I kill her?"

Jannas eyes went from collected and full of power to shocked and scared within seconds. "Wait, what?" She asked, voice cracking.

Marco shook his head. He was tempted, if only for a second, to let Tom deal with his stalker problem once and for all. But only for a second. "She's not an assassin, Tom. She's here to annoy me and stalk me."

"So…" Tom's demeanor melted into disappointment. "No killing?"

Marco shook his head. He looked down at Janna, weariness overcoming him. "Why are you here, Janna?"

Janna, who kept watching Tom to make sure he didn't make any sudden movements, replied, "I felt left out of the story. Also it's Friday, and I always stalk you on Friday."

Marco nodded. This was true: Janna made a solemn effort to stalk him every Friday night, despite his threats of calling the police. But while most nights it was only a minor inconvenience and mildly scary, he didn't have time to deal with her tonight. He had to think of what their next plan of action would be, and how to deal with his girl troubles. Janna's acult-ish nature would only distract him from-

Wait. Her acult-ish nature.

A smile broke out on Marco's face. He clapped his hands with deep satisfaction, causing both Janna and Tom to look confused and worried.

"Janna!" Marco exclaimed, face beaming. "Have you met my _demon_ friend Tom?"

Tom lift up his finger to protest. "Wait, we aren't-"

" _DEMON?!"_ Janna's voice fell hushed and low, eyes sparkling. The character who she'd been watching cautiously suddenly caught her eyes in a new light. Her arms and legs tore through their constraints as she threw her arms around Tom in a crushing hug. Tom's eyes went wide. He looked daggers at Marco.

"Whatdidyoudo?" He demanded, voice totally not shrill in panic. Marco gave him a deeply satisfied, sinister smile.

"What are friend-enemies for?"

Tom's eyes lit on fire and he screamed vulgar profanities as he failed to escape from Jannas arms. She ran out the house with Tom struggling in her arms, his screams slowly growing quieter and quieter as they got farther and farther. Marco smiled broadly, reveling in Tom's displeasure. Then he looked to the mess that Tom and Janna had left him. His smile fell.

"Well," he lamented. "At least I have something to do while I think of what to do next."

 **Uh, oops. Two months is a long time to not update after having updated weekly. I'd say I'm sorry, and that work and life got in the way, but those are only excuses. I promise to work to update more often. I know how it feels to be waiting for the next chapter in a story, especially after cliffhangers. There will be at least one more chapter this month, if not two.**

 **With regards to writing this chapter, I had a lot of trouble trying to figure out what should happen next. So this ended up mostly just being setup for the next chapter[s], where the groups then individually expand the story. Spring break is coming up soon, so expect more to come.**


	10. Chapter 10

Jackie sat with her legs tucked into her chest as she watched Jam sleep comfortably on her hardwood floor, his chest moving up and down in time with his breathing. The encompassing darkness of the room was only broken by the streak of moonlight that broke through her bedside window, allowing her the sight of the alleged son's scars and bruises. Like the darkness, the silence that surrounded her was only broken by her own breathing, synced to Jam's own. Her body lay still in the darkness, eyes now fixated on a patch of darkness beyond Jam, while her mind raced too fast for her body to rest.

 _Why did it have to get so complicated and strange?_ Her mind had asked herself after an hour of pensive silence. Jackie had never imagined that she'd find herself stuck in love triangle with Marco Diaz and an American version of Sailor Moon, their future kids they might each have coming to interfere, her having to save Marco from a green bird… thing, and almost dying trying to escape. She was supposed to be dealing with stupid high school drama, what clothes to wear and who to wear them with, who to date, what classes to take… Things that she would make fun of herself later for caring about. Not adventures. Not real danger.

 _It's Star's fault,_ she heard in her head. Except that it wasn't Star's fault. Or at least, she couldn't be blamed for it. Sure, technically Star's arrival in Echo Creek had led to the events of the past two weeks, but she couldn't have known what was going to happen, or that Jackie was going to end up joining in the adventures and almost dying. And it was because of Star that Jackie had gotten to know Marco.

Marco. All of Jackie's introspection kept leading her back to Marco. Her eyes travelled down from the blank patch of darkness back to Jam's torn face. Her conversation with Jam floated back into the front of her mind as she went over the night's events:

"Jam?" Jackie had asked, her voice unsure, unconfident. "Are… you alright?"

"Ugh," He'd replied bitterly, hands still over his watery eyes. "It's mostly my pride that's hurt."

Jackie bite her lip and didn't respond. She walked on through the dimly-lit sidewalk, guiding Jam with her hand on his shoulder. The air smelled of morning dew as it lightly caressed their bodies, causing them to shiver involuntarily. The night hadn't been terribly cold; summer was soon to approach. Yet Jackie and Jam could not ignore the occasional breeze that pierced through their shallow layers of clothes. Another wave of wind hit Jackie, winding up from her waist and up her spine until it reached the nape of her neck and she let out a small gasp. Jam let his hands fall slightly and looked worriedly up to Jackie, his eyes now only a little red at the edges.

"Mom?" His voice was that of a worried puppy, looking up in fear for its master. "You okay?"

Jackie shrugged and kept walking. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Jam stared blankly at her for a moment, then, in one sweeping motion, took off his jacket and handed it to her. She looked abashed at the offer, but before she could refuse, he stated, "I'm fine. I've been in much colder weather than this with less on."

Jackie returned his blank stare and a long pause before furrowing her eyebrows. "Jam?"

"Yes?"

"Why did I marry Marco?"

The question that had lain heavy in her mind now dominated the environment. The noises of the Echo Creek nightlife (while admittedly very subtle to begin with) seemed to evaporate at the question's introduction, despite the sounds continuing on in the background. The question seemed to confuse Jam. He opened his mouth, closed it, blinked a few times, then opened it again, now accompanied with an odd look.

"What do you mean?"

Jackie kept her blank stare on Jam, yet he could detect that it had gotten ever so slightly harder than before. "Why did I marry Marco? In the future? Why? I mean-" Her lock on him broke as she looked down at the street, eyebrows furrowed harder, hands open and rising to her sides, as though ready to catch the answer. "I like him. It's been a very fun couple of weeks, he's nice, smart, and cute to boot, but-"her hands fell down to her sides and she looked up warily at Jam. "It's… kinda hard to see myself marrying him. I don't know, it's just… weird."

Jackie looked into Jam's eyes, hoping to find reassurance in them. To her unfortunate surprise, Jam looked mortified.

"Well, I- you said it yourself, you've only been with him for a couple of weeks, I mean- he IS very kind and smart and stuff… just- just-"He sighed, letting out a heavy sigh that seemed to have been weighing him down. "I don't know."

Fear started to grow within Jackie. The only reason why she wouldn't have told Jam something that important would be… "Why? Didn't I tell you when you were young?"

Jam shook his head, despondent. "No. I never talked to you much. Same with dad, although I talked with him a little more. You were both so busy with keeping the starcopalpse down that I only saw you when you were training me to survive. Until-" He trailed off. Jackie got the picture. Jam stared off down into the seemingly never-ending rows of houses, each one filled with families. Some would be incomplete, Jam knew, but never as incomplete as his.

"When?" Jackie asked, her eyes now glued to ground.

"Recently. It's why I'm here now." He held his head up high and refused to let any tears stain the ground he walked on. "I will stop the starcopalpse. I will save you and dad. We will have the life we deserved. And you," he stated as fact, voice now shaking, "will know why you fell for Marco Diaz."

He walked off down towards the row of houses, determined to get the sleep he needed to fulfill his goal, until Jackie's voice called from behind him: "That's not the way to my house."

Jam stopped. Blushed. Turned around and kept his mouth shut.

Jackie hadn't said another word to Jam that night until she was in bed and he was in a sleeping bag on her floor.

"Night."

"Night."

Yet Jackie did not sleep.

She was going to die. Or some future version of herself had died, prematurely. Something about Marco had made her willing, happy to marry him and live through a war with him. She didn't know what it was, but Jam presence made it clear that she would. Or might. Elizabeth existed, after all. Maybe Jackie would never get serious with Marco, and she'd move on. Star could have Marco, and live happily or unhappily with him. Should she let Star get Marco, knowing that Star's future with him was probably much better than her own? Was Marco worth dying young in a fruitless war? She wondered if future her would have made the same choices, knowing the outcomes. Of course, Jam could be right: maybe he could fix the future, and allow her to live happily with Marco. Assuming she would be happy with him in the first place.

Her head fell down unto her knees and she sighed. It was hard to be the chill skater-girl with so much chaos around her. It was also, apparently, hard to stay awake after so much chaos. Even the thoughts that haunted her couldn't keep her body from eventually winning out. And so darkness finally fell as the first beams of light from the sun rose up over the horizon.

 **Real talk: This was the worst chapter to write. This must have been the 3-4 draft of it, and each other draft got scraped after it was half-way done. It's currently 12:06 am as I'm writing this, because if I didn't write it now, it'd never get done. I apparently lied about the 'multiple chapters in April' promise, and I'm sorry. Unfortunately, I can do much more than say "I'm sorry" besides post another chapter. Honestly, if it hadn't been for korra-naga-mako lover 2112 and their 8-9 chapter review spam, it might never have happened. I don't want to make any more fake promises, so please be patient. Thank you.**


	11. Chapter 11

"Uh, mom?"

No response.

"Hey, mom!"

Star didn't look up. When she and Elizabeth had first gotten to Star's room, they had tried to find Glossaryck so they could ask more questions. However, after ten minutes of looking in his tower and then through the drawers, piles of dirty clothes, magical creatures, and even Star's secrets closet, they could find neither Glossaryck nor the book of spells. Star groaned in frustration and let herself fall unto her bed face forward (still groaning through the sheets) as Elizabeth leaned her back against the wall and slide down till her butt plopped unceremoniously onto the ground. Part of Elizabeth's brown hair had fallen over her face as she slid, and she brushed it off irritably.

"I don't get it," she exhaled from frustration. "Where could he have gone? Why would he disappear right after we saved his sorry a- butt?" Her cheeks flushed, but Star didn't seem to notice.

"Glossaryck pulls this crap all the time," She replied, lifting her head only high enough so her explanation wasn't muffled. "He'll probably appear out of nowhere randomly and say that he was testing me or something."

"That's… probably true. Damn." Bitter resignation replaced Elizabeth's anger and she ended up gazing blankly at one of Star's creatures while thinking back to her experiences with Glossaryck. She remembered how when she was first learning magic, he'd taken her wand from him until she had told her mother the truth of what happened to their royal sofa. He'd also refused to help her with one of the spells, forcing her to learn about the importance of not using magic… or something. He'd also made her make him pudding for no reason. None. _Yeah,_ she figured, _this is his brand of bullshit: helping by not helping. Goddamnit, Glossaryck._

Elizabeth was eventually awakened from her mulling's on Glossaryck by… nothing. It occurred to her that Star had gone quiet. She looked up to see Star staring pensively down at her wand, which had conveniently fallen right in front of her when she had laid down on her bed. Her eyes were glossed over and her mouth was curled up in a tiny frown. Elizabeth called out to her, but she didn't respond. She did so again, this time louder, but no success. It wasn't until she nearly shouted, "Mom!" that Star's eyes snapped open. Star's head whipped around like a broken sprinkler until she found Elizabeth, her left eyebrow raised. Star blinked, then laughed nervously.

"Oh, yeah, sorry, didn't realize you were speaking to… _me."_ Her dismal mood had evaporated, leaving only her normally cheerful and playful personality.

Elizabeth's eyebrows scrunched up. "I… said it three times. And we're the only ones in the room."

Star winced as though having just seen someone doing something socially awkward without realizing it. She took in a deep breath before explaining, "Yeah, well, you said _mom,_ and I'm not really a _mom_ yet, and I don't want to think of myself that way, so yeah." She paused for a second before adding, "Yeah, if you could call me Star instead, that'd work out just fiiiiiiine."

Elizabeth frowned. She'd never called her mother by her first name, not ever. Of course she'd heard her mother be called Star before, but she'd never thought of her that way. She was her mother: The person who had raised her, cared for her, chided her, loved her. "Star"sounded like someone else, like someone's friend or a cousin. There's a reason no one calls their parents by their first name: it's not how you think of them. It certainly wasn't how Elizabeth thought of her mother.

Though, then again, the 14-year-old girl Elizabeth had just witnessed pouting didn't really remind her of her mom either. This Star wasn't quite like her mother, at least not yet. She didn't have the confidence or grace that Elizabeth remembered. "Star" was… kinda like herself.

"Right, yeah," She responded slowly. " _Star_. Ok then." She tried to remember what she'd been talking about. "Oh yeah, what's up? You're kinda acting… depressed-ish?"

Star bit her lip and made an uncomfortable expression with her face scrunched up like a pug. She quickly began rambling, her eyes moving around the room as she spoke: "No, no, I'm fine, I just- I don't know, it hasn't been a really great lately, Marco was hanging out with Jackie more than me for a while, and I lost Glossaryck, and my wand wasn't working great, and then Marco learned that I had a crush on him and he basically rejected me and-" Her whole body had tensed up as she rose in angst and anxiety until she could hold it no more. She let out a heavy, exaggerated sigh that seemed to fill the whole room with it's immensity. She looked up to meet Elizabeth's gaze. "It's just been a lot lately, and not getting the wand tonight kinda just _ruined_ my day." As she said 'ruined', she let herself fall back onto her bed. After a moment she added, "Also it's kinda weird that you're my daughter. That's weird."

Elizabeth nodded solemnly. "Very weird. But aren't you glad that Marco is safe and we got Glossaryck back?"

Before Star could answer, a dull sarcastic voice broke out throughout the room. "The one constant among teenagers of every intelligent species appears to be that they can never be grateful for what they have, only upset about what they lack." His long, blue forehead materialized through the ground, coming up to stare directly at Elizabeth with enormous wide eyeballs. Elizabeth was shaken by his abrupt entrance, but Star only narrowed her eyes in disgust.

"You were listening the whole time, weren't you?"

Glossaryck chuckled and turned to face her. "I don't _need_ to listen, Star. I'm omniscient."

"Didn't stop you from being kidnapped, now did it?" Her voice dripped sarcasm and overemphasis in only a way that a teenager (or someone just as mature) could say.

Glossaryck shrugged. He began to float aimlessly throughout the room, his body spinning around in three dimensions. "What did I say, no care that I'm still alive and well, that everyone's safe, that she gets to meet her future daughter, nothing." He continued to float, mumbling to himself about 'the kids these millennia'.

Elizabeth frowned thoughtfully at him. "Wait, Glossaryck, if you're omniscient, then how did you get caught in the first place?"

"Wonderful question, darling. How about a more relevant one?" He stopped his inertial momentum just as he was facing up, allowing him to address both Star and Elizabeth while facing them. When neither answered, he let out a tired sigh. His words sped up and came out short and sharp, as though trying to spur on a class five minutes before the bell rang. "Remember why you two had come up here looking for me?"

Elizabeth started to respond, but Star cut her off. In response to Glossaryck's curt tone, Star sighed. Heavily. The air bellowed out of her like the petal tones of a tuba. Elizabeth could have sworn that the room shook slightly. Silence reigned for a few moments. Elizabeth began to say "We were-"but was cut off again by the Star's impression of a humpback whale. Silence, then a cautious "We… were trying to ask why Jam and I don't contradict each other and what happened when we saved you."

Glossaryck studied Star, who had started playing with her wand absently, for a few moments before scrunching up his nose and sneezing. "Yeah, yeah, that." He turned to face Elizabeth. "Right, so, listen, there are a bunch of timelines and possible alternate universes and stuff, and you and Jam come from two different ones. Your timelines usually just run, kinda, I don't know, parallel, I suppose?" He shrugged. "You two don't actually need to fight over who's the dominate timeline cuz… you both exist."

Elizabeth stared blankly at him, watching him pick his nose as though he hadn't just dropped a bomb of information on her. Nothing Glossaryck said made any sense. She had heard everything he'd said, but it didn't add up to what had happened to her. She tried to find the right words to express this to him, but came up short. Thankfully, Star, master of the English language, stepped in to help her.

"Glossaryck, that doesn't make any sense. Why the heck would she be here if everything was O-Kahey Do-kahey in her world? That don't add up, you dumb-dumb." Such beautiful prose.

Glossaryck continued to pick his nose in his usual relaxed state. "Listen, if you don't want to hear the truth, I can go back into the book and take a well-deserved nap. These are the facts as I know them, and I know all facts. Usually. Mostly."

Elizabeth, clearly shaken, looked at him pleadingly. "But- if there's no reason for me to be here… why did you send me here?"

Glossaryck stared at her for a long time. His body stayed relaxed and casual, but his eyes never moved from her. "I didn't send you here, Elizabeth."

The room temperature dropped by a few degrees. Even Star stopped fiddling with her wand. She bit her tongue before asking, "Would it be cliché to then ask 'then who did?'"

"Only as cliché and cheesy as me revealing the answer to the second question now."

Elizabeth frowned. Her stomach began to tighten up. Some instinct deep in her brain started yelling that everything was about to fall apart. "You mean, what happened at Ludo's hideout?"

Glossaryck nodded. "Ludo isn't there anymore. Toffee has taken his place."

Silence, broken only by Star's soft whisper of the lizards name. Glossaryck nodded. Elizabeth stared hard at him, then when fully convinced that he wasn't pulling their legs, yelled "Shit!"


	12. Chapter 12

Marco looked up the stairs that led to the second floor of his house and, eventually, to his bedroom. He sighed. Normally he wasn't one to complain about the trivial chore of walking up a single flight of stairs, but it had been a long day. His feet ached and groaned on each step, begging him to stop. He ignored them, reminding himself through the pain that it would all be worth it when he finally got into his nice, warm, inviting bed. By the time he had reached his bedroom door, his fantasies of sleep and comfort seemed just inches away and he quickly opened his door…

…to find Toffee, immaculately dressed from head to toe in his Italian suit, sitting quietly on his bed.

Before Marco's addled brain could process what was in front of him, Toffee's hands shot up, one pointed at Marco in the gesture of a hand gun, then other putting a single finger on his lips. He made a light shushing noise and indicated for Marco to enter the room. Marco's eyes had gone wide with shock and panic, but he put his hands up and went into his bedroom. He closed the door behind him with a small kick of the heel of his foot. Toffee smiled and lowered the hand pointed at Marco to make a swishing gesture and utter a short, indecipherable phrase under his breath. His hand glowed for a second, and suddenly the walls of the room, ceiling, floor, and the door Marco had just shut were covered with a sticky green substance. It smelled of tar and dead rodents.

"Wonderful," Toffee exhaled, the smile on his face finally spreading to his eyes. He spoke in his detached business voice, but there was a hint of satisfaction lingering in it. "Now we won't be interrupted by any distractions or 14-year-old boys screaming at the top of their lungs for help."

Marco scowled at him. "Listen, Toffee," his voice lacked the normal bravado that he usually tried to muster up when dealing with villainous types and monsters, "I've had a long day. Like, a really, really, REALLY long day." He made a swirling motion with one of his fingers. "Can we wrap this up till tomorrow morning? Just this once?"

Toffee's smile broadened. "But Marco, it istomorrow morning."

Marco closed his eyes and let out a deep groan of one part misery to two parts annoyance. "What do you want?"

Toffee maintained his absurd grin, though Marco noticed that it seemed to have tightened up a smidge. "Revenge."

The word rolled off his tongue as if it tasted of vinegar. Marco's adrenaline kicked in to high gear and his fatigue was replaced with the animalistic instincts of flight-or-fight. His heart started pacing and his pupils dilated. Toffee frowned at Marco, then shook his head dismissively. "No, no, you misunderstand. I have no quarrel with you, boy. You are but a pawn in this matter." His eyes opened and Marco saw the fire burning within them, hate boiling just below the surface. "The Butterfly family has wronged me greatly, and I intend to repay the favor."

Marco nearly gulped, but he regained control of himself and held his ground. Toffee's promise that Marco wasn't the target of Toffee's wrath didn't abate his fear; It only transformed it from a fear for his own life into that for Star's and her family's lives. Star was his best friend, and he both knew and respected, if not liked, her parents. The rage that Marco saw in Toffee's eyes and his experiences with him when he'd been kidnapped screamed at him that Toffee was going to kill the Mewni royalty, if not hurt them in some other horrific way. That by itself was bad enough. And Toffee was still in the room with him. A locked room controlled by Toffee's magic, which he now apparently had control over. For all Marco knew, Toffee could be lying and wanted to finish what he had started months ago. Or he was going to be collateral damage. Either way, he was most likely in extreme danger. That danger both frightened him and enraged him. It took him a moment to calm himself and stop from either making a run at either the door or Toffee himself.

 _What can I do to stop him?_ He thought furiously. Nothing, probably. Toffee was miles out of his league. _Alright then. What can I do to slow him down?_ Talk to him? It might work. Toffee had never seemed like the chatterbox type, but tonight he had spent a great deal of time talking, and they hadn't even gotten down to the specific reason he was in Marco's room. Maybe if Marco got him talking and kept him talking, Star or Elizabeth or his parents or anyone might notice that his light was still on and decide to investigate. It was a long shot, but it was the only route he had. He swallowed his fear and rage to make the best poker face he could before saying:

"Wha- what did they do to you?" His voice came out a lot harsher and he stuttered a lot. So much for swallowing his emotions.

Toffee eyed Marco for a long 3-count. He lifted up right hand, the one missing a finger. "Do you know what sort of monster I am?"

"A butt ugly one."

 _Hey_ , Marco mused to himself, _he'd asked_.

Toffee ignored the comment, the skilled teacher working with a distracted and disobedient pupil. "I am a Septarian. Lizard-folk. And as with all my brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, cousins and even more distant relatives, I have a very special ability." He took his left arm in his right hand and, smiling while he did it, broke it at a ninety degree angle. His smile didn't waver nor his eyes look away from Marco while he did it. Marco grimaced at the sound and had to work very hard to not look away. He had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen next, but Toffee seemed to take some sick, depraved satisfaction in watching Marco become uncomfortable during the process. Creep.

As Marco had predicted, the arm began to sew itself back together. Bone, muscle, tendons and skin resewn themselves back together, restoring the arm and seemingly making it stronger during the process. "Regeneration," Toffee mused. "Cuts, bruises, burns, explosions, magic- none of it can kill me. My body rebuilds itself, becoming stronger, faster, smarter. It has no limits on how often it can undo the stresses that normal bodies succumb to. I am, in many ways, immortal."

Marco stared at him for a while, getting it. He pointed to the maimed, imperfect hand. "Except, you aren't. Someone beat your defenses. They beat you."

Toffee's face didn't change, but the injured hand tightened up into a ball. "Moon. A short time after I had killed her mother in order to send a message, she… retaliated. I don't know how she did it. All I know is that it involved black magic that corrupted her hand." He closed his eyes for a moment, his hand trembling.

Hot anger started to build in Marco. "You killed Star's grandmother and you think you're the one getting revenge? Sounds like you got what was coming to you."

Toffee's eyes opened, flat, staring daggers at the impudent teenager before him. "My people live in filth, poverty, starvation. They are forced to turn to petty crimes and working for imbeciles like Ludo just to scrape by. They are all treated as criminals and outcasts, and while many of them have been forced to make hard choices under the circumstances, many others have tried to stay pure despite the undeserved hate they have received." His voice was coated with murderous hate and bitterness. "Justify that."

Marco didn't flinch. "I was always more of a MLK fan than Malcolm X."

Toffee blinked. Marco stared at him for a couple seconds before slapping himself in the face. "Uh, right. Foreigner. What I mean is, Peace before War."

"Too late," Toffee argued. "It has been hundreds of years, thousands. Mewni is too stuck in it's ways. And peace would not allow for the Butterfly's to pay for what they have done. I am not the only one who has spilt blood in this conflict."

Marco was about to fire back at him, but Toffee raised his engraved hand in a stopping gesture. He frowned at Marco, then rubbed his eyes with his free hand. "All this talking…" he muttered darkly. "Must be a side effect of overtaking Ludo."

Marco's face went white. He hadn't loved the little bird brain, far from it, but… overtaken? The little guy was usually harmless, much like a child. He didn't deserve to have been destroyed by Toffee. "What do you mean, overtaking Ludo?"

Toffee shook his head, apparently clearing his thoughts. "That's not relevant. What is relevant is why I'm in your room right now."

Marco stared at Toffee, refusing to give him the straight line. His plan to stall for time had, well, run out of time. No one was coming. He was screwed.

Toffee stared back, then shrugged. "Well, if you won't ask, then I might as well just get it over with." His hand began to glow a dark, swampish green. "Can you photosynthesize, Marco?"

Marco blinked and, before he could stop himself, shook his head.

Toffee smiled. It was filled with venom. "Really? Because you look quite like a plant to me."

 **Hello everyone. Thanks for waiting so long. I have good news. From now on, the waits are going to be significantly shorter. I'm going to start updating this fic every other weekend, while updating There For You on the other weekends. I don't have band anymore so there's no excuse.**

 **For this chapter, I wanted to round off the nighttime activities of the group and prepare for the next chapter to have some action. It also helps move the story along, as it reintroduces Toffee and his plans. For a Sunday night update, I'm fairly happy with it. I hope you enjoy, and see you on the 17** **th** **!**


	13. Chapter 13

Marco didn't have a ton of time to react. After all, who delivers a truly menacing line, like the one Toffee had just given, and then follows it up with nothing? Marco's right hand flew into his hoodie's pocket and grabbed desperately at whatever he could find. His hand made contact with a soft clump, and he dodged to the right while throwing out the mysterious contents at Toffee's face. Toffee, whose star hand had grown brighter and whose mouth was opening to curse out a spell, put his other hand up to deflect the incoming wad of cash that totaled six hundred and fifty dollars. When the loosely-held-together bundle of assorted twenty and ten dollar notes his Toffee's guard, they exploded into individual bills that flew in random arcs all around Toffee, temporarily blinding him. A bolt of green lightning burst from his hand and missed Marco by inches. The bills didn't cover up the lizards sight for long, maybe a second or two, but it was long enough for Marco to counterattack. He shift his weight beneath his legs and turned his dodge into a leaping side kick into Toffee's neck, screaming incoherently in equal parts fear and adrenaline. Toffee couldn't get his shooting hand pointed at Marco in time, and he wasn't in the best position to get out of the way. While not taking the full blow, he did take at least fifty percent of the full hit in his neck. Toffee fell over to the side, gasping for breath.

Unfortunately for Marco, the laws of conservation of momentum were not working in his favor. Toffee had only taken a portion of his blow, and while it had been enough to down Toffee for the moment, it hadn't slowed Marco down by any significant amount. His body went spinning from the partial contact and his back hit the wall with a loud 'bam' before he fell down onto the bed. There hadn't been enough speed to do any damage to him, but his back felt like it had just fallen five feet, and the air got knocked out of his lungs.

They both lay there, coughing, trying to recover faster than the other. Toffee could regenerate any amount of damage in a surprisingly small amount of time, but Marco hadn't taken nearly as harsh a blow as him. Marco got up first, still wheezing slightly, and tried to deliver a rabbit punch to Toffee's neck, the same spot he'd kicked a moment earlier. Toffee's right hand shot out from under himself and it wrapped around Marco's hand with absolute strength. Toffee twisted on his side, face scrunched up in pain, placed his other hand on Marco's own neck before he could stop him, and pushed/pulled in one swift movement. There was a loud popping sound, a scream of shock and pain from Marco, and the arm went limp. Marco's only useful hand grabbed desperately at the hand Toffee had on his neck, but Toffee's death grip on him seemed to be aided by hydraulic pumps. He doubted that he'd be able to get off any one of Toffee's fingers without both hands in use. Toffee's hand gripped hard on Marco's neck, squeezing every last drop out air out of his throat. Marco made a few gurgling noises in response, but that was about it. He tried hitting Toffee a few times in various places, but Toffee barely flinched. Toffee pointed his star hand at Marco again, green malevolent light shining from it again. Toffee's mouth curved up in a snarl.

"Such a disappointment," he whispered venomously. Then there was a loud noise, a blinding light, and Marco was flown to the side, hitting the wall a second time and falling unconscious. Toffee's head rapped against both the floor and the leg of Marco's bed, dazing him momentarily. He looked over, eyes slowly focusing on a young girl with blonde hair, red heart cheeks, and a fire in her eyes.

"Toffee!" Star's voice slashed out in the sharp tone she used when both serious and angry and seriously angry.

She held up her wand, still glowing with magical power from the blast she'd unleashed upon the room. The knuckles on her hands grew white as she stared down the lizard monster, hate overwhelming her. If there were ever a villain she could hate with all of her being, it was Toffee. The creature had nearly killed her friend and had forced her to destroy her wand. Those events had sent her life spiraling out of control, little by little, until she had become an emotional wreck wearing the mask of who everyone knew her to be. And now Toffee had just tried to kill her best friend. Again. Star's vision went red as her wand's green light grew brighter and brighter, her mouth opened and-

"Star?"

She faltered. Star stole a second's glance at Elizabeth, but it was enough to see the terror, the fear, the horror. Star looked back at Toffee, his body slowly repairing itself in front of her, murderous eyes staring her back from across the room. While he had a hatred equal to that of her own, his eyes were lit with a cold fire, a freezer burn that would make liquid nitrogen look like a cool autumn breeze.

"Go ahead, Star," Toffee's voice sounded a little ragged, but the contempt he held for her still came across smoothly. "Visit your wrath upon me, just like every other Butterfly in your filthy bloodline does to every monster you see."

Star bit her lip, ever so tempted by his offer. But instead of pulverizing Toffee with a blast of magic straight to his shit-grinning face, she closed her eyes. She remembered what Jackie had taught her about breathing, and took ten seconds to calm herself down. Her wand's light dimmed and eventually went out, and it fell to her side. In place of the rage and damnation she had felt towards Toffee, logic and reason flowed into her mind. _Toffee's probably trying to set me up, just like at Ludo's castle,_ she thought, still breathing slowly. _I should try to get some info out of him, maybe figure out what he's up to… or something._ Star wasn't exactly a master strategist, even when her mind wasn't filled with thoughts of revenge and murder. She opened her eyes to find Toffee looking like he'd just been told that the brown stuff he'd just eaten wasn't chocolate.

"Why are you here?" Star demanded, voice still sharp. Her hand still gripped the wand tightly, ready to blast him if he moved an inch.

Toffee stared hard at her for a long time, and then recomposed himself. His abnormally venomous behavior was replaced with the cool, professional, detached mask that everyone was used to. _It had seemed to take some effort for him to do that,_ Star mused. Despite the sudden change, Star was pretty sure that Toffee wasn't in as much control as he had been at Ludo's castle.

"Why should I tell you-" Toffee stopped talking and frowned, looking at something behind Star. "Whose that?"

"I'm asking the questions here, Toffee," Star stated, voice hard. Her wand hand tilted it's wrist so that the wand was pointing at the lizards face. "Answer me or you'll get exactly what you asked for."

Toffee raised his hands in a slow, sarcastic variant of complacency. "Is that so?" He asked, mock surprise in his voice. Then there was a flash of light, a spell from Star's wand, and then nothing. Star looked to the spot where Toffee had been laying. It was empty.

"Damn," Star muttered. "Should have blasted his lizard ass."

"Jeez, Star," Elizabeth said, real surprise in her words. "That was… you nearly killed him."

Star winced at the tone and truth of Elizabeth's words, and her shoulders slumped. "Nah, he can't die. It just would've hurt him a bit." Her words were defensive, and she realized that she wasn't just lying to Elizabeth. She was lying to herself. But rather than linger on that train of thought, Star shook her head and made her way over to Marco.

"Marco!" She whispered sharply, though this time in worry rather than anger. Marco made a small, weak noise. Star winced. She knew that she hadn't done the majority of the damage that he had just taken, and that if she hadn't blasted Toffee that Marco would be dead, but she could have aimed a lot better. "Uh, sorry," She apologized quietly. She tried to touch his shoulder but upon contact he gave a loud, pained grunt. Star backed away and closed her eyes. "Oops."

She turned her head and found Elizabeth staring her in the eyes, clearly waiting for something. Star bit her lip again but held her ground. "Toffee's evil, Elizabeth. Pure evil."

Elizabeth kept staring her in the eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but then stopped. Her eyes fell down to the ground. "That's not what yo- that's not what my mother taught me." She said quickly.

Star felt as though someone had just punched her in the guts. She clenched up her right hand and spoke without inflection, "I guess your mom has a bad memory." They both shivered in the seventy four degree room. Silence.

"Well, that blows," Star eventually said with a sigh. She looked up, but not at Elizabeth. "But we can't deal with Toffee while were this tired. Time to sleep. I guess I'll…" she looked down at Marco and frowned for a moment. She thought about trying to get the blanket over him, but it was beneath him, and she didn't want to cause him anymore pain by moving him in any way. No more pain for her best friend. Not again.

"Uh, well, I- I'll see you tomorrow," she finished awkwardly, daring to glance up at Elizabeth's face, then back down. "You can stay in my room, I guess, or, you know, where ever."

Elizabeth nodded quickly and said, "Yeah, thanks, but I think I'll just stay here. You know, in case Toffee comes back."

Star couldn't figure how she had thought to leave Marco alone in his current state and danger. _Long day_ , she guessed. Even more reason to leave the uncomfortable situation and deal with everything tomorrow. "Right. Good plan. I'll just- go."

Star left the room, still not looking at Elizabeth, and was closing it behind her when she heard, "Goodnight, mom."

Click. The door closed. Star froze just outside of the door for a long three-count. Then her head fell into her hands and she moaned softly into them. What was she doing with her life?

 **Ha, I got the fic out only two days late. That's pretty good considering my abysmal track record. I'm sure when you all saw "next chapter in two weeks" you figured "Two years". Not today, baby. However, I do have to skip next week, due to vacation, so it might be two to three weeks for the next update. Sorry.**


	14. Chapter 14

Marco woke up to pain. Before he could see anything, hear anything, smell, touch, taste, or do anything, his entire body lit up with excruciating pain. He let out an involuntary gasp and tried to get up. The pain, more than Marco had ever felt before, suddenly doubled and he fell back down onto the bed. He lay there for a second, unable to think through the torture when another jolt of agony went through his arm. His body stiffened and the pain from his arm receded, leaving him only with the rest of the mind-numbing misery. He opened his eyes slowly, carefully, breaking through the sand and crap in his eyes to find a watery image of a girl with brown hair, green eyes, and odd shapes on her cheeks. It took Marco a solid five seconds of logical deduction and memory chasing to remember who the person standing over him was.

"Elizabeth," he strained to say. His lips and mouth were dry, as though he hadn't had water for weeks. Also, when he spoke, his stomach rose and fell. That slight movement was enough to force him to stop and try to collect his thoughts again.

"Shhh," Elizabeth silenced him, bringing one finger up to lips. Marco shut up. He couldn't see what she was doing, only her face. He stayed still for a while, trying to remember how he had gotten so badly beat up. He remembered coming home with Star and Jackie and company, talking to everyone, and then-

Toffee.

Marco's blood began to boil and he tried to get up again. The insanity-inducing returned for a second round, but Marco simply grunted through it and kept getting up. Elizabeth's hands met his chest as he rose up and pushed back against him. Marco struggled against her through the agony, but Elizabeth turned out to be a lot stronger than him. He glared up at her as his back landed back on the bed. "Let me go," he rasped out.

"No." Elizabeth's response was short and crisp, very reminiscent of her mother's. Marco absentmindedly noticed that while the rest of his mind either screamed for relief or for blood. He tried struggling more, but Elizabeth wasn't having any of his shit today.

"Toffee," Marco grumbled, still trying to get up despite the severe disadvantage he held.

"Marco, Toffee's gone. We don't know where he is or how to find him, and even if we did, you wouldn't be going after him right now. Your entire body got hit really, really hard by both Toffee and Star, and even if you ignore all of that, your arm is dislocated. You aren't going anywhere for a while."

The irrational part of Marco's brain that had taken control of him after remembering that Toffee wasn't dead prepared to keep arguing to go after him no matter what was in his way, but some other part of his brain forced him to take a look at his arm. His face went white as a sheet. His arm was hanging a full two inches lower than it should have, bent backwards at an awkward angle. He tried to move it, but all it did was twitch here and there. Marco felt an odd sensation in his throat and his face turned green.

"No, no no no no no no no no no!" Elizabeth's words splurted out of her in less than a second. She backed away from him with her arms up by her face as though trying to get them as far away from him as possible. "Please don't puke, da- er, Marco. Please don't. Please, please please please don't. I don't have any extra clothes with me, just- hold it in. Please?"

Marco struggled with his body's desire to upchuck everything inside of it, and after a few moments of uncertainty, was able to keep his lunch down. After that, he simply lay there on the bed, reorganizing his thoughts.

Toffee was back. Marco's future kids from alternating realities had appeared to try to secure their own existences. And Marco needed to know how to keep his friendship with Star healthy while not dumping Jackie.

"Alright," Marco said out loud to himself. Elizabeth cocked her head towards him, listening. "There's a lot going on. We need to get everyone together and, uh, prioritize the issues in front of us." Marco moved his head to look at Elizabeth. "Hey, I'm- good now. Can you help round everyone up here?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "Don't need to. Everyone got here about three hours ago."

Marco's eyes popped open and he shot up in bed, surprise insulating him from most of the pain. Most of it. "What?" he asked through gritted teeth. "What time is it?"

Elizabeth shot him a glare, but he didn't flinch. She sighed and squinted down at her wand. "Eh, looks like it's about… two in the afternoon."

The blood drained from Marco's face. He had a project due Monday, and it was only partially completed. Usually he got his work done by Friday, but with all of his preparations for his date with Jackie and the chaos that had ensued afterwards, he hadn't gotten any work done on it. With the way things were going now, Marco doubted he'd be able to work on the project at all before Monday morning came and it was due.

Elizabeth gave him a puzzled look. "What's wrong?"

Marco sighed. "Nothing," he muttered to himself, "it doesn't matter." He tried to sit up more but the pain made him reel back down. "No, wait, there is a problem. My whole body feels like it got hit by a truck."

Elizabeth took in a sharp breath. "Well, you kinda did. Toffee smacked you across the room and tried to choke you, then Star hit both of you with a big blast of magic, sooooooo," she trailed off as her face scrunched up in concern. "You really shouldn't move right now. Your body won't heal right."

"Yeah, well, considering all the crap that we've got to get handled over the next couple days, I think there's a pretty good chance that I'm gonna have to move my body a lot." Marco couldn't keep the sarcasm out of his voice as he glared at Elizabeth.

Elizabeth let out a frustrated sigh. "Right, because you'll be super helpful to everyone as you fall over in pain every time you take a step."

Marco fumbled for a retort, but he couldn't find one. Instead, he spat out, "well, I- I still have to be able to move and do stuff! Isn't there a magic spell that can heal me or something?"

Elizabeth nodded. "Yeah. Star's looking for the spell right now. Glossaryck has been acting vague and moody lately, so she's been trying to look it up by herself. I've been watching over you to make sure Toffee didn't return to finish what he started."

Marco blinked. "Oh. Wait, why didn't you just tell me that to begin with?"

Elizabeth gave him a sassy look. "You were being an ass."

Marco scowled at her. "I liked you better when you were treating me like your dad."

"I like it better when you act like him."

Marco's scowl intensified ten fold, and he tried to imagine the situation where he would let his own daughter act so rudely to someone when the door opened up with a loud slam, hitting Elizabeth and hiding her from sight. From the entrance of the door, Marco could see Star's leg, still extended out from kicking the door open, and a large, purple book held by two small hands.

Star's voice was muffled as she said, "I found the spell." She threw the book onto the floor, letting it make an enormous 'whap' sound as it hit the ground. She looked up and smiled widely at Marco. "Hey, how you doing?"

"Awful," Marco complained. "It hurts to breathe."

"Ouch." Her voice was light and carefree, a lot more like what she normally sounded like. "Sorry about hitting you last night, couldn't let Toffee do whatever the heck he was trying to do."

Marco nodded. "I understand. He was trying to turn me into a plant of some sort. Or maybe more like a spy plant." He shuddered at the thought of being used against Star again. His first encounter with Toffee had made him feel… useless. Toffee had treated him like he was nothing more than a means to his ends, and it looked like he had tried to do it again. The memory of the cage slowly shrinking down on top of him, closer, closer, clos-

"Pffft, silly Marco, spies don't have plants, they have knives and gadgets and stuff." Marco snapped out his waking nightmare to find Star, undisturbed, looking back at him with a goofy smile. It was a little unsettling.

"Uh, Star?"

Star ignored him, scanning around the room with a curious expression. "Hey, where'd Elizabeth go?" The door slowly swung back to where Star was standing, revealing the face of a furious teenager. Star's mouth got small and she let out a quiet, "Oh, sorry."

Elizabeth took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, still glaring at Star. "You found the spell?"

Star nodded and opened up the Book of Spells to a page close to the front. "It's one of the older spells, I think. From, uh," she squinted down at the scrambled notes and ancient mewman characters in front of her, "I don't know. One of my ancestors. Apparently she did it with her twin sister for their father or something a long time ago."

"Hmmm," Elizabeth hummed in thought, slowly cooling off and relaxing. "Two people for one spell?"

"Looks like," Star said absently, still scanning the page. "She tried doing it by herself the first time and passed out. Yeesh." She looked up at Elizabeth and nodded over to her, indicating for her to come look at the book. "What're you waiting for?"

Elizabeth blinked. "Uh, what?"

Star frowned, irritated. "Do you know anyone else that can do magic and is currently available? Come on, we don't have all day."

"Uh, I'm not- I haven't had my wand for a full year yet. I can't-"

"Yes, you can." Star's voice was steady, confident, resolved. It didn't sound like the voice of a moody teenager or an unfocused princess. She sounded… older. Stronger. More like a queen than ever before. "You have to be able to do this. I have to be able to do this. I haven't had the wand any longer than you have, but if we don't heal Marco, then we're all screwed." She stretched her arm out to Elizabeth. "Please?"

Elizabeth stared at her for a long time, then nodded. "Okay. Alright." She took Star's hand and knelt down beside her. They studied the spell for a while, looking through every detail with intense observation. After a minute, they stood up and got out their wands.

"Alright, Marco. Here's hoping we don't get a repeat of the monster arm."

Marco gulped. Elizabeth's eyes widened and she started to ask, but Star cut her off. "Later." Elizabeth stared at her, but then reluctantly nodded. She looked nervous. Marco gulped again.

Then they lifted up their wands and began to murmur words that Marco couldn't understand. It was probably an ancient Mewman dialect or likewise, he figured. As they murmured, the light in the room, including the sunlight, dimmed dramatically, and their wands began to glow in a purplish light. Marco felt an odd tingling sensation, and looked down to see that his body had begun to glow as well. Panic erupted throughout his body, and he was just barely able to suppress the impulse to run away. The voices grew louder and the light pulsed brighter with them until it became blinding. Then, in a flash, it was gone, and the room grew silent. No one said anything for five seconds. Then,

"Well?"

Marco sat up. He didn't feel anything. He stood up… and nothing happened. A wide grin broke out across his face. "I'm fine. Perfect. Wow. Thanks, both of you."

Star looked at him with a cocky smile. "Of course you are and of course we did. That's what friends and-" she gave Elizabeth a weird look, "daughters from possible future timelines are for."

Elizabeth, for her part, looked stunned. Her cheeks were glowing, as were her fleur de lis's. "I- wow. It worked." She looked over at Star, still surprised and slightly abashed. "Uh, thanks. For the encouragement. How did you… pull yourself together so quickly?"

"Nope."

Marco and Elizabeth blinked. "Wait, wha-"

"Shut." Star interrupted with a blank smile. Then she turned for the door and left the room. Marco and Elizabeth exchanged concerned looks.

"Is she…"

Marco nodded. "Yeah. Avoiding her problems. She does it a lot, it's super annoying."

"Huh. She doesn't do that as much when she's… later."

Marco nodded. "Good to hear." He pointed at the door. "Shall we?"

Elizabeth looked at him and made a disgusted face. "I will. You… well, I think you need a shower. Maybe like, ten showers."

Marco gave her an odd look and lifted up his armpit. He nearly threw up again. He realized that after all of the adventures from the previous day, sweating through dirt and mud and grass and nearly dying, that he'd smell like a dead guy. He quickly nodded and rushed for the bathroom. "See you there."

 **Wow, 2260 words of f#$# $# filler. I meant to get to the actual meeting in this chapter, but I just kept adding detail after detail until this became one of the longest chapters. And I'm a week behind so there's no scraping this and starting fresh. Sorry. Next chapter will get everything settled and moving. Geez.**


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